We present an update of the ‘key points’ from the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) report that was published by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in 2009. We summarise subsequent advances in knowledge concerning how the climates of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean have changed in the past, how they might change in the future, and examine the associated impacts on the marine and terrestrial biota. We also incorporate relevant material presented by SCAR to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and make use of emerging results that will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.

Despite much scientific research, a considerable amount of uncertainty exists concerning the rate and extent of climate change in the Arctic, and how change will affect regional climatic processes and northern ecosystems. Can an expanded scope of knowledge and inquiry augment understandings of climate change in the north? The extensive use of the land and the coastal ocean in Inuit communities provides a unique source of local environmental expertise that is guided by generations of experience. Environmental change associated with variations in weather and climate has not gone unnoticed by communities that are experiencing change firsthand. Little research has been done to explore the contributions of traditional knowledge to climate-change research. Based in part on a collaborative research project in Sachs Harbour, western Canadian Arctic, this paper discusses five areas in which traditional knowledge may complement scientific approaches to understanding climate change in the Canadian Arctic. These are the use of traditional knowledge as local-scale expertise; as a source of climate history and baseline data; in formulating research questions and hypotheses; as insight into impacts and adaptation in Arctic communities; and for long-term, communitybased monitoring. These five areas of potential convergence provide a conceptual framework for bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and western science, in the context of climate-change research.

Passive microwave images of the polar regions, first produced after the launch of the Nimbus-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR)in December 1972, have become a valuable new source of polar information. Some of the potential applications of this new capability were anticipated. Of these, the sensing of sea ice through clouds and the polar night is probably the most important application for polar research and for operations on the polar seas. Other applications, such as the measurement of certain near-surfaceice sheet parameters, have been formulated more recently. Measurement of various ocean surface parameters is expected from the forthcoming multifrequency microwave observations. Undoubtedly additional uses of passive microwave datawill be conceived and developed. Two remarkable aspects of satellite-borne microwave radiometers are the complete spatial detail obtained by the scanning sensors and the temporal detail provided by continual coverage. For example, the observations of detailed microwave emission patterns over the Antarctic ice sheet should yield information that could not be obtained by surface or even aircraft measurements. Sequences of images produced at three-day intervalsreveal short-term ice sheet and sea ice phenomena that would otherwise be missed.

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty requires that past and present work sites be cleaned up unless removal would result in greater adverse environmental impact than leaving the contaminant in its existing location. In the early 1990s Australia began the documentation of contaminated sites associated with its research stations, which resulted in an extensive record of contamination at abandoned stations and waste-disposal sites. Currently the technical capability to remediate these sites does not exist because of environmental challenges that are unique to the cold regions. Investigations indicate that clean-up operations in the past have proceeded without adequate precautions and without effective monitoring. To address these problems, three research priorities have been identified to assist meeting international and national obligations to clean up these sites. They are: understanding contaminant mobilisation processes; development of ecological risk assessment for use in monitoring and setting priorities; and development of clean-up and remediation procedures. This study provides sufficient information to guide the completion of a clean-up at Casey Station and to indicate how other similar sites should be managed. The next stage is to develop the theory into an operational plan to include detailed protocols for clean-up, monitoring, site remediation, and management of the waste stream from site to final repository. To achieve this, the Australian Antarctic Division has established a contaminated sites taskforce to facilitate the transition from research and development of techniques to implementation of suitable clean-up options.

One must suppose that even before Melville transformed the true story of an unusually lightcoloured Sperm Whale named Mocha Dick into his epic novel, Moby Dick, and certainly afterwards, whalers and zoologists working in the whaling industry have noted that pronounced morphological differences often exist among whales of the same species and stock (Lillie, 1915; Matthews, 1937; Pike, 1953). During the past 15 years, scientists studying living whales have commented on individuals with odd marks, scars, pigmentation patterns or albinism, deformities, algal films or the shape and position of external features such as the dorsal fin.

The Norse colonisation or landnám of the North Atlantic islands of the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland from the ninth century AD onwards provides opportunities to examine human environmental impacts on ‘pristine’ landscapes on an environmental gradient from warmer, more maritime conditions in the east to colder, more continental conditions in the west. This paper considers key environmental contrasts across the Atlantic and initial settlement impacts on the biota and landscape. Before landnám, the modes of origin of the biota (which resulted in boreo-temperate affinities), a lack of endemic species, limited diversity, and no grazing mammals on the Faroes or Iceland, were crucial in determining environmental sensitivity to human impact and, in particular, the impact of introduced domestic animals. Gathering new data and understanding their geographical patterns and changes through time are seen as crucial when tackling fundamental questions about human interactions with the environment, which are relevant to both understanding the past and planning for the future.

Significant and rapid climate change is predicted for Arctic regions. These changes are expected to have implications for indigenous communities. This paper argues that the starting point to understand how future climate change may affect communities is analysis of past and present experience of, and response to, climate variability and change. Using a vulnerability approach, the paper provides an historical account of changing vulnerability to climate-related risks among Inuit in Igloolik, Nunavut. The research demonstrates that Inuit in Igloolik have been highly adaptable in the face of climatic stresses. This adaptability has historically been facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, resource use flexibility and diversity, group mobility, and strong social networks. However, societal changes, and more recently biophysical changes, have increased the susceptibility of people to climatic risks and have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity. The research indicates that the implications of future climate change will be influenced by the interaction between biophysical and societal changes, will vary over time in response to forces internal and external to the community, and will be differentiated among social groups.

Climate change is already being experienced in the Arctic with implications for ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. This paper argues that an assessment of community vulnerability to climate change requires knowledge of past experience with climate conditions, responses to climatic variations, future climate change projections, and non-climate factors that influence people's susceptibility and adaptive capacity. The paper documents and describes exposure sensitivities to climate change experienced in the community of Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories and the adaptive strategies employed. It is based on collaborative research involving semi-structured interviews, secondary sources of information, and participant observations. In the context of subsistence hunting, changes in temperature, seasonal patterns (for example timing and nature of the spring melt), sea ice and wind dynamics, and weather variability have affected the health and availability of some species of wildlife important for subsistence and have exacerbated risks associated with hunting and travel. Inuit in Ulukhaktok are coping with these changes by taking extra precautions when travelling, shifting modes of transportation, travel routes and hunting areas to deal with changing trail conditions, switching species harvested, and supplementing their diet with store bought foods. Limited access to capital resources, changing levels of traditional knowledge and land skills, and substance abuse were identified as key constraints to adaptation. The research demonstrates the need to consider the perspectives and experiences of local people for climate change research to have practical relevance to Arctic communities such as for the development and promotion of adaptive strategies.

Contaminants, in freezing ground or elsewhere in the world, are of concern not simply because of their presence but because of their potential for detrimental effects on human health, the biota, or other valued aspects of the environment. Understanding these effects is central to any attempt to manage or remediate contaminated land. The polar regions are different from other parts of the world, and it would be naïve to assume that the mass of information developed in temperate regions can be applied without modification to the polar regions. Despite their obvious environmental similarities, there are important differences between the Arctic and Antarctic. The landmass of the Arctic is much warmer than that of the Antarctic and as a result has a much greater diversity and abundance of flora. Because of its proximity to industrial areas in the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic also experiences a higher input of contaminants via long-range aerial transport. In addition, the Arctic, with its indigenous population and generally undisputed territorial claims, has long been the subject of resource utilisation, including harvesting of living resources, mineral extraction, and the construction of military infrastructure. The history of human activity in Antarctica is relatively brief, but in this time there has been a series of quite distinct phases, culminating in the Antarctic now holding a unique position in the world. Activities in the Antarctic are governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which contains provisions dealing with environmental matters. The differences between the polar regions and the rest of the world, and between the Arctic and the Antarctic, significantly affect scientific and engineering approaches to the remediation of contamination in polar regions. This paper compares and contrasts the Arctic and Antarctic with respect to geography, configuration, habitation, logistics, environmental guidelines, regulations, and remediation protocols. Chemical contamination is also discussed in terms of its origin and major concerns and interests, particularly with reference to current remediation activities and site-restoration methodology.

Between late March and May, from 1971 through 1979, we surveyed 74,332 km2 of sea-ice habitatin the eastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf in the western Canadian Arctic. We defined seven sea-ice habitat types and recorded sightings of polar bears and their tracks in each to determine their habitat preferences. 791 bears (including cubs) and 6454 sets of tracks were recorded. 42.3%, 39.7%, and 15.6% of the bears were seen on floe-edge, moving ice, and drifted fast-ice habitats, respectively. Significant differences in habitat preferences were shown by bears of different sexes and age classes. Adult females accompanied by cubs of the year were the only group that showed a strong preference for fast ice with drifts, probably because they could feed adequately there while avoiding adult males that might prey upon their cubs. The highest densities of seals are found in floe-edge and moving ice habitats and this likely explains the predominance of bears there. Lone adult females and females with two-year-old cubs, adult males, and subadult males were found two and one-half to four times more frequently than predicted in floe-edge habitat. Since there are no data to suggest seals are more abundant along the floe edge than in moving ice habitat, the preference of these groups of adult polar bears for the floe edge in spring may be related to reproductive behavior.

The need to investigate and understand the nature of changes in abundance of economically important marine living resources has been widely recognized. They may be naturally occurring fluctuations, cycles or undirectional processes, or changes in response to artificial influences such as pollution or commercial harvesting. As direct investigation of status and population structure of some of these resources can often prove difficult, or incompatible with continuing exploitation, attention has also focussed on the identification and study of more convenient species which may be used as indices of environmental change.

In a very short time, discussions on Arctic governance have moved from being a topic of scholarly attention and NGO advocacy onto the agendas of states and of the European Union (EU). Increasingly, the various alternatives propounded by a diverse set of actors over what Arctic governance should look like appear as pre-negotiation tactics, a type of testing period before a regime change. The article examines whether the still predominant inter governmental forum, the Arctic Council, is facing a threat of being supplanted by other forms of governance. It will study how resistant the Arctic Council, and its predecessor the 1991 Arctic environmental protection strategy, are to change in order to understand whether the council could renew itself to meet future challenges. It will also examine the various proposals for Arctic governance set out by states, the EU and the region's indigenous peoples. All this will permit conclusions to be drawn on where the Arctic Council stands amid all these proposals and whether, and in what way, it should change to support more sustainable governance in the Arctic.

Scientific studies of challenges of climate change could be improved by including other sources of knowledge, such as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in this case relating to the Sámi. This study focuses on local variations in snow and ice conditions, effects of the first durable snow, and long term changes in snow and ice conditions as pre-requisites for understanding potential future changes. Firstly, we characterised snow types and profiles based on Sámi categories and measured their density and hardness. Regression analysis showed that density can explain much of the variation in hardness, while snow depth was not significantly correlated with hardness. Secondly, we found that whether it is dry/cold or warm/wet around the fall of the first durable snow is, according to Sámi reindeer herders, crucial information for forecasting winter grazing conditions, but this has had limited focus within science. Thirdly, elderly herders’ observations of changes in snow and ice conditions by ‘reading nature’ can aid reinterpretation of meteorological data by introducing researchers to alternative perspectives. In conclusion we found remarkable agreement between scientific measurements and Sámi terminology. We also learnt that TEK/science cooperation has much potential for climate change studies, though time and resources are needed to bridge the gap between knowledge systems. In particular, TEK attention to shifts in nature can be a useful guide for science.

In December 1993 a study of contaminated sites at Casey Station, Wilkes Land, Antarctica, was undertaken. The preliminary assessment of these contaminated sites is presented here. A register of contaminated sites for Casey Station was developed, based on a survey of past Antarctic expeditioners, relevant literature, and in-house reports relating to site usage and history. On this basis a sampling strategy was devised for the highest priority, potentially contaminated sites at Casey Station. Samples were collected from the refuse disposal site (tip site) at Thala Valley and the mechanical workshop/powerhouse areas of ‘Old’ Casey. The results indicated that copper, lead, and zinc were leaching from the tip site into adjacent Brown Bay, with ‘hot spots’ of high petroleum hydrocarbon levels. The mechanical workshop/powerhouse area was also shown to be contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and metals such as copper, lead, and zinc. Several recommendations were made, including the removal of rubbish mixed with soil at the bottom end of Thala Valley in such a manner as to prevent any further release of contaminants, with subsequent site monitoring to verify effective removal of contaminants to acceptable environmental levels. It was also recommended that further investigations be carried out on the ecosystem of Brown Bay, the large fuel spill site, the upper and lower fuel-storage areas, and the area around the incinerator. There is scope for monitoring the natural breakdown and migration of contaminants at the mechanical workshop/powerhouse site. This should include studies on bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. Mechanisms for arresting surface migration should be investigated in those sites identified. In addition to meeting some of the international obligations of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, this work also contributes towards the development of an approach to assessment and management of contaminated sites that is uniquely adapted to the Antarctic environment and could be applied at other Antarctic stations. to the assessment and management of contaminated sites that is uniquely adapted to the Antarctic environment. This approach could be utilised for site assessments at other Antarctic stations.

During the austral summer of 1963–64 an investigation was started near “Mc-Murdo” on the diving habits of the Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddelli). The Weddell Seal was selected for this investigation because of some unique characteristics of its behaviour and because of the environment in which it occurs at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. For eight to ten months of each year the sea ice provides a solid cover except for tidal cracks along the coast, pressure cracks between old and new ice, and scattered holes cut for oceanographic work. This gives the seals rather specific areas where they may surface in order to breathe. When they visit these breathing holes, instruments may be attached to them with a high probability that they will revisit the same hole and allow the investigator to remove the instrument. With this knowledge of the Weddell Seal' diving behaviour, it was my intention not only to gain some idea of the maximum diving epths and submergence times, but also to obtain information on such things as rates of descent and ascent, cruising depths and submarine orientation patterns. To determine these various parameters two types of instrument were needed, a depth-time device for recording dive profiles and a smaller, more easily attached unit that could be used to measure maximum depth of dives of a large number of seals.

Biophysical changes underway in the Arctic have stirred a remarkable surge of interest and concern in many quarters, including non-Arctic states and non-state actors. This article explores the implications of these developments for the pursuit of governance in the region. Many reactions to this situation are more alarmist than alarming. But recent developments do provide an excellent opportunity to reassess the effectiveness of existing arrangements and to enquire about the need for new forms of governance. The article does not support the claims of those who argue that a comprehensive, legally binding Arctic treaty (or even an Arctic Charter) is required at this time. Rather, it argues the case for a somewhat messier but more effective tripartite governance complex featuring an agreement to set aside without extinguishing claims to extended continental shelf jurisdiction on the part of the littoral states, an effort to adjust the character of the Arctic Council to meet emerging needs in the Arctic, and a push to devise issue-specific regulative regimes to address concerns involving shipping, fishing, and off-shore oil and gas development.

The overall objective of this paper is to present and discuss the most recently developed vegetation map for Svalbard, Arctic Norway. The map is based on satellite images in which several Landsat TM/ETM+ images were processed through six operational stages involving: (1) automatic image classification, (2) spectral similarity analysis, (3) generation of classified image mosaics, (4) ancillary data analysis, (5) contextual correction, and (6) standardisation of the final map products. The developed map is differentiated into 18 map units interpreted from 37 spectral classes. Among the 18 units separated, six of the units comprise rivers, lakes and inland waters, glaciers, as well as non- to sparsely vegetated areas. The map unit 7 is a result of shadow effects and different types of distortions in the satellite image. The vegetation of the remaining eleven units varies from dense marshes and moss tundra communities to sparsely vegetated polar deserts and moist gravel snowbeds. The accuracy of the map is evaluated in areas were access to traditional maps have been available. The vegetation density and fertility is reflected in computed NDVI values. The map product is in digital format, which gives the opportunity to produce maps in different scales. A map sheet portraying the entire archipelago is one of the main products from this study, produced at a scale of 1:500,000.

Antarctica is a rugged, austere, and yet stunningly beautiful continent with charismatic fauna including several species of penguins, whales, and seals. Mass media, writings from the early explorers, and modern film all describe firsthand experiences as delightful, beautiful, challenging, humbling, and even awe-inspiring. This dramatic allure of Antarctica now fuels one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world with over 30,000 visitors annually traveling to the continent. Despite the fact that Antarctic tourism has occurred for over 30 years, little research has investigated the psychological and affective influence of these immersive tourism experiences in the Antarctic environment. This study explored visitors' affective judgments regarding their Antarctic tourism experience. An onsite post experience survey was administered to Antarctic tourists to investigate their satisfaction with a range of tour attributes. In addition, the researchers used the open-ended question, “How did this Antarctic experience affect you?” to explore tourists’ affective response to their interaction with the Antarctic tourism environment. These open ended responses were coded using a priori themes generated from Kellert's environmental values typology. Additionally, each response was analysed for the presence of an awe experience. Further analysis revealed that tourists described five sub-dimensions of an ‘awe’ experience (nature-human relationship, spiritual connection, transformative experience, goal clarification, and sense of feeling humbled), with many individuals experiencing multiple dimensions of awe. Consequently, this analysis reveals that the impact of an Antarctic tour experience is powerful, rich, and extremely complex.

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data were acquired and composited into twice-a-month periods from 1 May 1991 to 15 October 1991 in order to map vegetation characteristics of the Alaskan landscape. Unique spatial and temporal qualities of the AVHRR data provide information that leads to a better understanding of regional biophysical characteristics of vegetation communities and patterns. These data provided synoptic views of the landscape and depicted phenological diversity, temporal vegetation phenology (green-up, peak of green, and senescence), photosynthetic activity, and regional landscape patterns. Products generated from the data included a phenological class map, phenological composite maps (onset, peak, and duration), and photosynthetic activity maps (mean and maximum greenness). The time-series data provide opportunities to study phenological processes at small landscape scales over time periods of weeks, months, and years. Regional patterns identified on some of the maps are unique to specific areas; others correspond to biophysical or ecoregional boundaries. The data provide new insights to landscape processes, ecology, and landscape physiognomy that allow scientists to look at landscapes in ways that were previously difficult to achieve.