European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

Julkaistu versi

Изменчивость морского льда в Арктике по данным Арктического портала

The Arctic Portal of the Laboratory of Satellite Oceanography of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University is an open geo-informational system designed for operational monitoring of the sea ice–ocean–atmosphere system in the Arctic. Possibilities to use the Arctic Portal for the Arctic sea ice monitoring on the basis of satellite data, as well as the types of satellite measurements suitable for studying the properties of sea ice: active and passive microwave data; data of spectral radiometers in the infrared  (IR) and visible ranges are considered. Every type of satellite data has certain limitations. For the study of sea ice the most suitable are the all-season remote sensing data  – measurements of microwave instruments, independent of clouds and time of a day. Existing in the world resources of the sea ice maps and satellite data on sea ice are either closed for users or limited in their informational content. Several types of satellite data are currently available on the Arctic portal: Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, 8-day averaged MODIS reflectivity data, optical and IR MODIS data of original time and spatial resolution, Norwegian Meteorological University sea ice maps, and data on consolidation of sea ice, based on passive microwave radiometer measurements. Some data is additionally available in the test mode. The effectiveness of combined use of various satellite data on the sea ice is proved by the examples of sea ice analyses.Представлены возможности Арктического портала (геоинформационного сервиса) для мониторинга ледяного покрова Арктики на основе спутниковых данных. Дан обзор основных типов спутниковых инструментов, позволяющих изучать морской лёд. Обоснована эффективность совместного применения результатов обработки разных спутниковых данных, имеющихся в среде геосервиса

Building Bridges at the Science-Stakeholder Interface: Towards Knowledge Exchange in Earth System Science

This book covers the approaches, applied methods and central participatory processes at the science-stakeholder interfaces embedded in the development of the "Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP)". The latter is an initiative of the German Helmholtz Association, synthesizing the expertise of the eight Helmholtz research institutions focusing on Earth System Sciences. The contributions showcase the approach of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) within the ESKP initiative. Central focus is placed on the question as to which knowledge transfer processes can be employed to foster meaningful approaches based on science-stakeholder dialogues, data products, and/or modelling. The authors suggest that the tools and approaches for enhancing the vital contributions of science to addressing societal challenges warrant further investigation and development

Solutions for Sustainable Economic Development - 4th Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting Report

Arctic Science Ministerial is a unique form of scientific cooperation that traditionally advocates preserving the Arctic region as a territory of peace, stability and constructive interaction focused on achieving concrete, practical results in the interests of all people in the northern latitudes, including indigenous peoples. The Russian Federation continues the coordinating functions within the ASM adopted from previous coordinators on June 16, 2021 at the final ASM3 webinar, and on October 14, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland at the annual international Arctic Circle Assembly, based on the continuity of previous ASM and the increasing relevance of scientific research in the Arctic. This book provides an overview of past events - webinars, participation in conference roundtables - with the aim of sharing scientific experience of Arctic research and forming informational materials to support science and higher education activities through international organizations and forums in the Arctic zone, supporting and updating the database of Arctic research projects carried out by scientific and educational organizations, including jointly, as well as through international. The information base for this work was the results of feedback assessment from Russian and foreign scientific and educational organizations, data on international projects in the Arctic, materials from the websites of the Arctic Council https://arctic-council.org/ and the working groups of the Arctic Council. In addition, climate, geological, biological, sociological, and technological research was used as the basis for developing strategies for sustainable economic development in the Arctic that take into account the interests of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, industry, and government agencies

A Prediction Market for Climate Outcomes

This Article proposes a way of introducing some organization and tractability in climate science, generating more widely credible evaluations of climate science, and imposing some discipline on the processing and interpretation of climate information. I propose a two-part policy instrument consisting of (1) a carbon tax that is indexed to a “basket” of climate outcomes, and (2) a cap-and-trade system of emissions permits that can be redeemed in the future in lieu of paying the carbon tax. The amount of the carbon tax in this proposal (per ton of CO2) would be set each year on the basis of some objective, non-manipulable climate indices, such as temperature and mean sea level, and also on the number of certain climate events, such as flood events or droughts, that occurred in the previous year (or some moving average of previous years). I refer to these indices and events as climate outcomes. In addition to a carbon tax rate being set each year, an auction would be held each year for tradable permits to emit a ton of carbon dioxide in separate, specific, future years. That is, in the year 2012, a number of permits to emit in 2013 would be auctioned, as well as a number of permits to emit in 2014, in 2015, and so forth. In the year 2013, some more permits to emit in 2014 would be auctioned, as well as more permits to emit in 2015, 2016, and so forth. The permits to emit in the future are essentially unitary exemptions from a future carbon tax: An emitter can either pay the carbon tax or surrender an emissions permit to emit in the specific vintage year. Because of this link between the carbon tax and the permit market, the trading price of the permits should reflect market expectations of what the carbon tax will be in the future and, concomitantly, expectations of future climate outcomes. The idea is to link the price of tradable permits to future climate outcomes, so that a market is created in which accurate and credible information about future climate conditions are important inputs into the price of permits. The market for tradable permits to emit in the future is essentially a prediction market for climate outcomes. And yet, unlike prediction markets that have been operated or proposed thus far, this prediction market for climate outcomes operates against the backdrop of an actual and substantial tax liability. Whereas prediction markets have heretofore largely involved only recreational trading, this prediction market will operate against a regulatory backdrop and thus will provide much stronger incentives for traders to acquire and trade on information

Responding to Climate Change: The Economy and Economics - Part of the Problem and Solution

The Climate Change Starter’s Guide provides an introduction and overview for education planners and practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education, including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and economic principles. The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education into school curricula. It has been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans. The guide covers four major thematic areas: 1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes; 2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and ethics; 3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and 4. education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable lifestyles. A selection of key resources in the form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided after each of the thematic sections

Data-enabled Field Experiment Planning, Management, And Research Using Cyberinfrastructure

In the spring of 2013, NASA conducted a field campaign known as Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) as part of the Ground Validation (GV) program for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The purpose of IFloodS was to enhance the understanding of flood-related, space-based observations of precipitation processes in events that transpire worldwide. NASA used a number of scientific instruments such as ground based weather radars, rain and soil moisture gauges, stream gauges, and disdrometers to monitor rainfall events in Iowa. This article presents the cyberinfrastructure tools and systems that supported the planning, reporting, and management of the field campaign and that allow these data and models to be accessed, evaluated, and shared for research. The authors describe the collaborative informatics tools, which are suitable for the network design, that were used to select the locations in which to place the instruments. How the authors used information technology tools for instrument monitoring, data acquisition, and visualizations after deploying the instruments and how they used a different set of tools to support data analysis and modeling after the campaign are also explained. All data collected during the campaign are available through the Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC), a NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)

European Arctic Initiatives compendium

The European Arctic Initiatives compendium presents flagship initiatives undertaken by the European Union in Arctic regions, as well as initiatives undertaken by member states and actors operating within states belonging to the European Union (EU). Furthermore, it includes initiatives by European states such as Norway and Iceland, as well as territories such as Greenland, which are highly relevant in the context of the European Arctic, and in many cases strongly linked to the EU, for example, the European Research Area (ERA). The compendium has been compiled as part of the Preparatory Action for a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of the Arctic. The compendium’s aim is three-fold: to assist in an Arctic Information Centre feasibility study; to provide a window onto Arctic initiatives that may inform the European Arctic Impact Assessment (EUAIA) which forms part of the Preparatory Action; and to inform the European Commission on European Arctic Initiatives

Impact of urban canopy parameters on a megacity’s modelled thermal environment

Urban canopy parameters (UCPs) are essential in order to accurately model the complex interplay between urban areas and their environment. This study compares three different approaches to define the UCPs for Moscow (Russia), using the COSMO numerical weather prediction and climate model coupled to TERRA_URB urban parameterization. In addition to the default urban description based on the global datasets and hard-coded constants (1), we present a protocol to define the required UCPs based on Local Climate Zones (LCZs) (2) and further compare it with a reference UCP dataset, assembled from OpenStreetMap data, recent global land cover data and other satellite imagery (3). The test simulations are conducted for contrasting summer and winter conditions and are evaluated against a dense network of in-situ observations. For the summer period, advanced approaches (2) and (3) show almost similar performance and provide noticeable improvements with respect to default urban description (1). Additional improvements are obtained when using spatially varying urban thermal parameters instead of the hard-coded constants. The LCZ-based approach worsens model performance for winter however, due to the underestimation of the anthropogenic heat flux (AHF). These results confirm the potential of LCZs in providing internationally consistent urban data for weather and climate modelling applications, as well as supplementing more comprehensive approaches. Yet our results also underline the continued need to improve the description of built-up and impervious areas and the AHF in urban parameterizations