Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

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Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

Appendix 4 . 2 A small survey among lead authors of the other chapters in this report that tried to identify what climate information was being used to connect climate to various sectors. In many cases, the established knowledge is based on experience and tacit knowledge, but seems not always to explicitly include state-of-the-art climate data, partly because there may be no direct observations available 11 . There is also a more comprehensive table in chapter 6 in addition to a simpler table on biophysical systems.

Sector or theme Relevant climatological or meteorological variables

How is the weather or climate affecting the sector?

Air temperature and precipitation affect vegetation species, period of growth and land productivity High temperatures melt the permafrost and cause the ground to subside; in dry areas permafrost is forcing the water to stay, but when this melts, lakes may drain and wetlands may dry out affecting plant and animal living there (will also affect the local climate and eventually possibly affecting the area even more, perhaps resulting in irreversible conditions); Species established in new places may outcompete some of the existing species (in particular alien invasive species and diseases are important) which in the end may create less resilient ecosystems (perhaps even resulting in irreversible situations); Forests: potential increased risk for pests and fire Tourism: snow condition; changes in bird populations making certain areas less attractive for tourism Reindeer herding: grazing conditions, infrastructure impacts that affect getting reindeer to slaughtering and markets, changes in timing om migration Temperature and precipitation determine vegetation species. Snow cover prevents ground species from frost byte. Length of growing season and/or effective (>+5C degree) temperature sum affect the tree growth. Changes in the wintertime conditions can have adverse effect on the survival of trees (especially seedlings). Wind, waves and ice conditions influence effectiveness of navigation in coastal and deep waters

Agriculture

temperature, precipitation, snow temperature, precipitation, snow, wind, ice

Environment & ecosystems

Fisheries

wind, ice, waves

Fishing/ hunting/ gathering

Forestry

temperature, precipitation, snow temperature, precipitation, snow

Forestry

Mining

temperature, precipitation, snow

Seepage and flooding spread pollutants

Safety of oil and gas extraction from underwater resources is affected by weather conditions (wind) and state of sea surface (waves ice) Changes in areas with good quality for grazers (ie reindeer follow snow beds, reduced area and longevity will force them to eat less favourable food) will influence the reindeer population (health conditions become worse, more of them will die), More costly to move the animals from one area to another ie during spring earlier onset of thawing of lakes and rivers, forces them to choose different routes or ways of transport. Icing events lead to difficulties of reaching down to the food affecting reindeer health, increase in precipitation (when coming as snow) makes it more difficult to find food and more energy demanding to move.

Oil & gas

wind, ice, waves, icebergs

temperature, precipitation, snow, ice

Reindeer husbandry

Shipping

wind, ice, waves

Wind, waves and ice conditions influence effectiveness of navigation

11 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16NwPbcr8ZfnrIV828-rnqUryWyrPHkp--q8vZmpwM1Y/edit?usp=sharing