Interactions between the atmosphere, cryosphere, and ecosystems at northern high latitudes

Abstract

The Nordic Centre of Excellence CRAICC (Cryosphere–Atmosphere Interactions in a Changing Arctic Climate), funded by NordForsk in the years 2011–2016, is the largest joint Nordic research and innovation initiative to date, aiming to strengthen research and innovation regarding climate change issues in the Nordic region. CRAICC gathered more than 100 scientists from all Nordic countries in a virtual centre with the objectives of identifying and quantifying the major processes controlling Arctic warming and related feedback mechanisms, outlining strategies to mitigate Arctic warming, and developing Nordic Earth system modelling with a focus on short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), including natural and anthropogenic aerosols. The outcome of CRAICC is reflected in more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications, most of which are in the CRAICC special issue of the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. This paper presents an overview of the main scientific topics investigated in the centre and provides the reader with a state-of-the-art comprehensive summary of what has been achieved in CRAICC with links to the particular publications for further detail. Faced with a vast amount of scientific discovery, we do not claim to completely summarize the results from CRAICC within this paper, but rather concentrate here on the main results which are related to feedback loops in climate change–cryosphere interactions that affect Arctic amplification.The CRAICC team acknowledges the following institutions for financial support: the Finnish Cultural Foundation grant, Markku Kulmala “International Working Groups”; Russian mega-grant no. 11.G34.31.0048 (University of Nizhny Novgorod); Academy of Finland contracts 259537, 257411, and 254195; Beautiful Beijing (Finland–China collaboration project) funded by TEKES; Nordforsk CRAICC-PEEX (amendment to contract 26060); CRAICC-CRUCIAL (project no. 81257); Icelandic Research Fund (Rannis) grant no. 152248- 051; Danish Environmental Protection Agency with means from the Dancea fund for environmental support to the Arctic region (M 112 002700); the Villum Foundation; the Carlsberg Foundation (project 009_1_0515); COST1303 (TOPROF); COST ES1404 (HarmoSnow); and the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX). The development and use of NorESM1 was supported by the Norwegian Research Council through the projects Earth-Clim (207711/E10), EVA (grant no. 229771), NOTUR (nn2345k), and NorStore (ns2345k) and through the Nordic Centre of Excellence eSTICC (57001) and the EU H2020 project CRESCENDO (grant no. 641816). The CRAICC team also thanks Rogier Floors for providing Fig. 8 and Christoph Münkel for Fig. 9. The authors and entire CRAICC community would like to thank and acknowledge the work and inspiration of Jon Egill Kristjansson, whose life was cut short during these collaborations. Jon Egill Kristjansson is deeply missed, but his scientific legacy continues.Peer Reviewe