Ongoing climatic change in Northern Eurasia: justification for expedient research

• Published in: Environmental research letters 2009-12, Vol.4 (4), p.045002
• Main Authors: Groisman, Pavel, Soja, Amber J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Anomalies; Anthropogenic factors; Aridity; Atmospheric models; Biosphere; Bogs; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Chlorophyll; Climate change; Climate effects; Climate models; Climate prediction; Cryosphere; Earth science; Ecosystems; Editorials; Environmental changes; Environmental research; Evaluation; Forest ecosystems; Forest fires; Forests; Geophysics; Global warming; Groundwater; Groundwater storage; Growing season; Holocene; Human influences; Hydrologic cycle; In situ measurement; Land use; Mountains; Nitrogen; Normalized difference vegetative index; Organic nitrogen; Peat; Permafrost; Pinus sylvestris; Range management; Remote sensing; River basins; River discharge; River flow; Rivers; Runoff; Satellite imagery; Satellite observation; Satellites; Social factors; Soil moisture; Soil surfaces; Synthetic aperture radar; Trend analysis; Tundra; Vegetation; Vegetation changes; Water vapor; Watersheds; Weather
• ISSN: 1748-9326; 1748-9326
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/4/4/045002

A brief overview of the ongoing climatic and environmental changes in Northern Eurasia serves as an editorial introduction to this, the second, special Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) focus issue of Environmental Research Letters. Climatic changes in Northern Eurasia over the last hundred years are reflected in numerous atmospheric and terrestrial variables. Many of these are noticeably significant above the confidence level for 'weather' or other (fire regime, ecosystem change) noise and thus should be further investigated in order to adapt to their impacts. In this focus issue, we introduce assorted studies of different aspects of contemporary change in Northern Eurasia. Most of these have been presented at one of the NEESPI workshops (for more information see neespi.org) and/or American Geophysical Union and European Geosciences Union NEESPI open sessions during the past year. These studies are diverse, representing the diversity of climates and ecosystems across Northern Eurasia. Some of these are focused on smaller spatial scales and/or address only specific aspects of the global change implications across the subcontinent. But the feeling (and observational evidence) that these changes have already been quite rapid and can have global implications inspires us to bring this suite of papers to the readers' attention. See the PDF for the full text of the editorial. Focus on Climatic and Environmental Change in Northern Eurasia Contents Preface Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative Pavel Groisman and Amber J Soja Editorial Siberia integrated regional study: Multidisciplinary investigations of interrelation between Siberia environment dynamics and global climate change E P Gordov and E A Vaganov Studies of the energy and water cycles in Northern Eurasia Comparison and evaluation of gridded radiation products across northern Eurasia T J Troy and E F Wood Reanalysis data underestimate significant changes in growing season weather in Kazakhstan C K Wright, K M de Beurs, Z K Akhmadieva, P Y Groisman and G M Henebry Climate change in Inner Mongolia from 1955 to 2005—trends at regional, biome and local scales N Lu, B Wilske, J Ni, R John and J Chen Application of the Snowmelt Runoff model in the Kuban river basin using MODIS satellite images M V Georgievsky Record Russian river discharge in 2007 and the limits of analysis A I Shiklomanov and R B Lammers Paleoclimatic reconstructions for the south of Valdai Hills (E