IASC Terrestrial Working Group

Scientific Foci:

Membership: 36 members; 20 countries, Chair: Inga Svala Jonsdottir (Iceland)Vice-Chairs: Warwick Vincent (Canada), Phil Wookey (UK)U.S. Members: Vlad Romanovsky, Skip Walker, Jeffery Ross ( New IASC Fellow from U.S.)

• Geosystems and ecosystems at multiple spatial scales.• Processes that amplify or moderate climate warming. • Interactions among species.• Life in extreme environments.• Past, current and future changes.• High spatial resolution models of terrestrial geosystem and ecosystem change, adaptation strategies.• Sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem services.• Connectivity in the functioning of arctic terrestrial systems.

IASC TWG ICARP III Activities

ICARP III - TWG leading two activities• Arctic Snow Cover Changes and their Consequences. • Rapid Arctic Transitions due to Infrastructure and Climate Change

(RATIC).

•TWG is also involved in six other ICARP III activities.

Rapid Arctic Transitions due to Infrastructure and Climate (RATIC)

A forum for developing and sharing new ideas and methods to facilitate the best practices for assessing, responding to, and adaptively managing the cumulative effects of Arctic infrastructure and climate change.

A collaboration of the IASC Terrestrial, Cryosphere, and Social & Human Working Groups.

Main U.S. TWG Initiative:

RATIC Activities in the past year

• Workshops:- Arctic Change 2014 conference in

Ottawa, Canada, 8-12 December 2014. - Arctic Science Summit Week, Toyama,

Japan 23-30 April 2015.

• ICARP III RATIC white paper, May 2015.

• Presentation to the IARPC Terrestrial Ecosystems Collaboration Team, May 22, 2015.

Five case studies

1. Cumulative effects of infrastructure and climate in the permafrost landscapes of the Prudhoe Bay, Region. Skip Walker, Martha Raynolds, Steve Ambrosius, Yuri Shur, George Matyshak, Vladimir Romanovsky, Gary Kofinas, Lisa Wirth.

2. Russian Arctic oil and gas development and climate change interactions in the Bovanenkovo Gas Field, Yamal Peninsula. Timo Kumpula, Bruce Forbes, Artem Khomutov, Marina Leibman, Olga Khitun.

3. ADAPT and IRIS in Canada. Mickael Lemay, Michel Allard, Scott Lamoureux, Trevor Bell, Donald Forbes, Warwick Vincent.

4. Road infrastructure and climate effects in Norway. Elena Kusnetsova.

5. Urban landscapes on permafrost: the Oganer district of Norilsk, Russia. Dmitri Streletskiy, Valerie Grebenets, Nikolai Shiklomanov

Primary conclusion

The cumulative effects of infrastructure and climate change are not adequately addressed by any of the IASC working groups nor in national-level Arctic science plans.



• NSF ArcSEES, NASA LCLUC, and projects sponsored by Canada and the EU are providing examples of scientific approaches to address infrastructure-related changes.

• Industry- and government-agency-sponsored monitoring programs are providing data that can be applied to an adaptive management approach for addressing cumulative impacts.

• IASC , ICARP III, and U.S. IARPC can play key a rolls in helping to promote international projects and programs focused on sustainable methods of infrastructure development.

Thermokarst along Spine Road, Prudhoe Bay, AK.Photo: D.A. Walker

Prudhoe Bay 2015 aufeis and flooding of the

Dalton Highway, Alaska

A perfect storm of infrastructure and climate

factors with major economic impacts

Aufeis and and overflow along the Saganvairktok River, April 2014 vs. 2015. Maps by Lisa Wirth, GINA, UAF.Photo: KTUU News, Anchorage.

SWIPA Permafrost chapter