Eurasian Arctic Land Cover and Land Use in a Changing Climate, 2011

This volume is a compilation of studies on interactions of land-cover/land-use change with climate in a region where the climate warming is most pronounced compared to other areas of the globe. The climate warming in the far North, and in the Arctic region of Northern Eurasia in particular, affects both the landscape and human activities, and hence human dimensions are an important aspect of the topic. Environmental pollution together with climate warming may produce irreversible damages to the current Arctic ecosystems. Regional land-atmosphere feedbacks may have large global importance. Remote sensing is a primary tool in studying vast northern territories where in situ observations are sporadic. State-of-the-art methods of satellite remote sensing combined with GIS and models are used to tackle science questions and provide an outlook of current land-cover changes and potential scenarios for the future.

Audience: The book is a truly international effort involving U.S. and European scientists. It is directed at the broad science community including graduate students, academics and other professionals in this field.

Preface

Acknowledgements

About the Author

List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction: Climate and Land-Cover Changes in the Arctic; Pavel Groisman, Garik Gutman, and Anni Reissell

2 Recent Changes in Arctic Vegetation: Satellite Observations and Simulation Model Predictions; Scott J. Goetz et al.

3 High-Latitude Forest Cover Loss in Northern Eurasia, 2000–2005; Peter V. Potapov, Matthew C. Hansen, and Stephen V. Stehman

4 Characterization and Monitoring of Tundra-Taiga Transition Zone with Multi-sensor Satellite Data; Guoqing Sun et al.

5 Vegetation Cover in the Eurasian Arctic: Distribution, Monitoring, and Role in Carbon Cycling; Olga N. Krankina et al.

6 The Effects of Land Cover and Land Use Change on the Contemporary Carbon Balance of the Arctic and Boreal Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northern Eurasia; Daniel J. Hayes et al.

7 Interactions Between Land Cover/Use Change and Hydrology;  Alexander I. Shiklomanov et al.

8 Impacts of Arctic Climate and Land Use Changes on Reindeer Pastoralism: Indigenous Knowledge and Remote Sensing; Nancy G. Maynard et al.

9 Cumulative Effects of Rapid Land-Cover and Land-Use Changes on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia; Donald A.Walker et al.

10 Interactions of Arctic Aerosols with Land-Cover and Land-Use Changes in Northern Eurasia and their Role in the Arctic Climate System; Irina N. Sokolik, Judith Curry, and Vladimir Radionov

11 Interaction Between Environmental Pollution and Land-Cover/Land-Use Change in Arctic Areas; John Derome and Natalia Lukina

12 Summary and Outstanding Scientific Challenges for Land-Cover and Land-Use Research in the Arctic Region; Garik Gutman and Chris O. Justice

Index

The Arctic zone is most responsive to climate warming

To be published right as the product of the International Polar Year

Strong international collaboration

Land-cover change is a cross-disciplinary science

Land-cover and land-use change effects may be the major contributor to climate change