10:30 AMAuthor(s):
*Hengchun Ye - California State University - Los Angeles Eric J. Fetzer - Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Session Description: The Arctic environment has experienced significant change, with alterations to the water cycle, terrestrial landscapes, and sea ice cover among the more significant. Future climatic warming of permafrost regions has the potential to significantly impact the carbon cycle give the large storage of frozen peat in arctic soils and the strong linkages between the water and carbon cycles. Current and future changes across this region are also likely to impact the global climate through multiple feedbacks which are not well known at this time. Moreover, major uncertainties are present in current depictions of the arctic environment due largely to a sparse network of direct observations. Our understanding of the arctic system is thus dependent on improved observations and on advancements in model representations of precipitation, evapotranspiration and associated processes that drive the water, carbon, and energy cycles of the northern high latitudes. We invite papers which address the current state of arctic hydroclimatology and biogeochemistry from field to continental scales. Topics may include observations, modeling, or remote sensing of hydrological fluxes, permafrost, lakes or wetlands dynamics, and other related quantities. Talks which focus on causes, attribution, and/or impacts of changes in arctic hydrology are particularly encouraged, as are presentations which highlight International Polar Year research and activities.
