Climate change in the arctic and the impact on marine ecosystems

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Climate change in the arctic and the impact on
marine ecosystems
Door Anja Jansen Begeleiding Wim
Klaassen 2004/05
(NASA)
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Increased warming at the poles
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Research question
What are the influences of climate change on the
arctic region and its marine ecosystem?
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Topics
Climate change Melting of ice Sea current
changes Ecosystem changes
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The arctic climate

• The climate of the arctic is distinguished by its
  most important quality cold.
• Why is the arctic cold?
• the sunlight has to travel a long way through
  the atmosphere
• high albedo of the arctic region
• energy lost by warmth transport in water and
  melting of ice (in summer)

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Temperature change in the arctic
Changes in surface temperature between the
periods 1981-1992 and 1992-2003
(Comiso en Parkinson, 2004)
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The Arctic oscillation
Arctic oscillation Positive phase
Negative phase
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The arctic oscillation seems to be staying in the
positive, warm phase (NOAA)
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Ozone concentration in march 1979 (left) and
march 2003 (right). (NASA)
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Temperature change in the troposphere (left) and
the stratosphere (right) between the 80s and the
90s of the twentieth century. (Overland, Wang en
Bond, 2002)
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polar vortex polar statospheric clouds
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Trends in september sea ice concentration between
1979-1996 (a) and 1979-2002 (b)
(NASA)
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The expected loss of summer sea ice in this
century.
(ACIA report, 2004)
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Changes in ice coverage on greenland
Source Corell (2004).
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Graph of annual average temperature and average
total precipitation for 1897 to 1998. Based on
data for the Cascade West Climate Division. The
red lines show the general trend of both
temperature and precipitation, while the blue
dots show the annual variation of both values.
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Annual runoff of Lena, Ob and Yenisey Rivers. The
Ob and Yenisey Rivers show an increase since the
1980s
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Seacurrent change
Slowing and possible disappearing Gulf Stream in
the north atlantic
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Important changes
Warming Melting of sea-ice River
runoff Stratification Slowing Gulf
Stream Stronger light
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Influences on the ecosystem

• Changes in migration routes
• Longer productive summer period
• Increased severity and frequency of floodings
• Life-rhythm change
• Sub-arctic species migrate north
• animals (fish)/plants (plankton)
• diseases and parasites

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Average frostless period and the trend between
1988 and 2001
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Changes of primary production between the periods
1997-2002 and 1979-1986
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Changes in sea-ice, permafrost area and tree line
expected by the end of the century (ACIA)
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ACIA
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ACIA
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Changes in water temperature and in fish numbers
observed in pacific fish harvests (Klyashtorn
and Smirnov)
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Red line herring Blue line temperature
ACIA
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Influences on the ecosystem

• Ozone depletion sea-ice loss
• - Reactions with sunlight -gt toxic chemicals
• (hydroxyl, peroxide, super-oxide, etc)
• UV-B harmful for phytoplankton
• DNA damage in bacteria and larvae
• - Fish get UV-B sunburns

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North American fisheries have been in severe
decline since the late 1980s, with at least
one-third of all species overfished (compiled
from Fishstat 2001 )
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Conclusions
The climate of the earth is a fragile equilibrium
which has been changed very often in the earths
history. Climate change forces species to adept
or extinct, and helps new species to evolve, by
creating new habitat. There have been many
drastic changes in the arctic environment, and to
fully understand the consequences on the
ecosystem needs a lot more research.