Exploring cryospheric and biotic responses to warming in the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, Russian High Arctic

Dissertation proposal presentation of Dean Maraldo: The Arctic is warming faster than any other region of the world, driving significant changes in terrestrial ecosystems and the cryosphere, including changes in vegetation phenology and the loss of lake ice, permafrost, and glacier mass. However, compared to other areas of the Arctic, climate-related changes in the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (“NZA”), in the Russian High Arctic, are not well understood. The narrow archipelago is unique, extending northward into the Arctic Ocean and separating the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. As a result, all glaciers and lakes in the archipelago have greater exposure to the warmer Arctic Ocean air in the summer, compared to other major Arctic landmasses, such as Greenland, where glaciers and lakes are farther inland and insulated from warmer coastal air. Therefore, I will investigate changes in the cryosphere and vegetation in the archipelago. Specifically, the proposed dissertation will 1) construct the longest decadal chronology of glacier change in the NZA, extending back to the 1950s; 2) develop the first lake inventory for the NZA and analyze spatial and temporal trends in lake ice phenology for benchmark lakes throughout the archipelago; and 3) establish the first vegetation phenology baseline for the NZA and evaluate long-term vegetation change trends since 2000. The findings from the research are expected to improve our understanding of relationships between warming and changes in the cryosphere and vegetation in NZA and contribute to the literature by providing other researchers with the baseline and historical proxy data necessary to validate large scale cryosphere change, vegetation change, and sea level rise models.