Artic case study
- Created by: Hayley Petts
- Created on: 01-01-13 14:50
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- Impacts of climate change on the Artic
- Vulnerability
- melting of Greenland ice sheet
- reductions in ice thickness
- predicted to warm by 18degreesF by 2100
- treeline is moving north
- area where trees can grow is declining
- permafrost boundary moving north
- area covered by permafrost shrinking
- rest of world
- melting ice sheets cause sea level rise
- Salinity changes in ocean affect the Artic current which affect global oceans
- changing temperature of land and sea ice
- affects air currents in Artic
- impact of global weather patterns
- affects air currents in Artic
- positive
- economical
- open up NW passage
- easy trading
- travel for tours - Canada
- opportunities for TNC's - oil
- indigenous people hunt fish which are declining
- open up NW passage
- environmental
- ice melts which means new land is exposed
- access to fish, oil, gas and other resources
- ice melts which means new land is exposed
- ecological
- longer warmer growing seasons will benefit agriculture
- vegetation zone shift north with coniferous forest
- enhanced agriculture and forestry
- enhanced marine fisheries
- longer warmer growing seasons will benefit agriculture
- social
- indigenous people benefit from NW passage
- tourism - 30% of thieir income comes from sculture and print making
- people from Canada
- indigenous people benefit from NW passage
- economical
- negative
- social
- access to new resources may cause conflict over who owns them
- destruction of entire villages due to ice thinner and dangerous
- waves and storms caused 24 villages to be at risk to flooding in Alaska
- economical
- thawing of permafrost can cause collapse of buildings and broken pipe lines
- land less stable
- thawing of permafrost can cause collapse of buildings and broken pipe lines
- environmental
- increased coastal erosion due to thawing permafrost
- sept 2002 -smallest sea ice cover on record
- sea ice becomes thinner
- 10-15%
- some areas up to 40% (1960-1990_
- increased ultra violet radiation
- destroys phto plankton -base of marine food chain as a result of loss of sea ice
- ecological
- polar bears fear of extinction
- melting sea ice decreased hunting season for polar bears
- decline in northern freshwater fisheries
- smaller amount of seals reduce amount available to polar bears
- warm water reduces amount of marine plants eaten by smaller fish
- disruption of food chain higher up
- over 300 households rely on fishing
- species move north
- some will suffer major decline
- social
- Vulnerability
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