Terrain Evaluation of the Dempster Highway across the Eagle Plain and along the Richardson Mountains, Yukon Territory

1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-319
Author(s):  
Neil W. Richardson ◽  
E. Karl Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Terrain Classification ◽  
Rational Basis ◽  
Patterned Ground ◽  
Subsurface Sediments ◽  
Richardson Mountains

A detailed terrain classification was carried out as part of a study on the Dempster Highway from Mile 166 to Mile 290.5, the Yukon–Northwest Territories Border. The objective was to establish a rational basis for field testing and subsurface exploration programs in the future and the evaluation of the potential effects upon the physical environment of the construction of highways and other transportation facilities in the Arctic, on terrain composed of sedimentary rocks which have not been glaciated. Terrain units were established on the basis of geology, vegetation, topography, and patterned ground. The subsurface sediments were mapped mainly as outcrops of weathered shale and sandstone. The sandstone was found to be the most stable foundation and borrow material. The shale was found to be mainly clay with high ice contents near the surface, and was observed to be very unstable when thawed. A number of plant communities, which differed significantly from a geotechnical point of view, were identified.

The role of air pollution in Arctic planning and development

Polar Record ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 14 (93) ◽  
pp. 783-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl S. Benson
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Regenerative Processes ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Waste Products

The very low population densities in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, and the apparently rugged physical environment, tend to minimize one's conception of the possible effect of man's activities in these regions. In fact, of course, populations concentrate in fewer centres than in warmer regions: more than half the population of the Yukon Territory lives within 30 km of Whitehorse, and more than half Alaska's is associated with Fairbanks and Anchorage. The apparent ruggedness is offset by slow regenerative processes in areas disturbed by man. The presence of the impermeable permafrost layer over much of the Arctic and sub-Arctic prevents the dispersal of man's waste products and facilitates pollution of water and land. The air itself over centres of population is often exceptionally vulnerable to pollution.

Environmental and legal problems of ensuring biological safety in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-69
Author(s):  
Natalia Zhavoronkova ◽  
Vyacheslav Agafonov
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Zone ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Biological Safety ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
The Russian Federation

The article is devoted to the study of modern theoretical and legal problems of ensuring biological security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The published Draft of Federal law No. 850485-7“On biological security of the Russian Federation”provides an opportunity to take a closer look at the problem of legal provision of biological security in relation to the most vulnerable ecosystems, and, first of all, the Arctic. The article considers the most important features and potential risks of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation of critical importance from the point of view of biological hazards, the features (specificity) of biological safety problems from the point of view of organizational-legal features and, in particular, from the perspective of environmental law. It is proved that, given the special situation of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, in addition to the base Federal law“About biological safety” required a specific law on biological and ecological safety of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which should be generated on a slightly different model than the draft Federal law «On biological safety”, to wear the most specific, applied nature.

THE PRINCIPLES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN THE ARCTIC ZONE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Bubynin ◽  
Mikhail Bubynin ◽  
Valery Abramov ◽  
Valery Abramov ◽  
Gennady Zabolotnikov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Arctic Zone ◽  
The Russian Federation

The paper considers the priorities of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, from the point of view of the development of scientific research, identified by the main strategic documents of national policy and security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. Measures for implementation of priorities in the development of scientific research in the Arctic can be divided into three main sections: 1. Scientific projects and expeditions in the Arctic; 2. International activities; 3. Coordination and implementation of integrated research in the Arctic. Note that currently the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation develops the Analytical Coordination Program “Comprehensive research of the Arctic and Antarctic”, in cooperation with the federal state bodies and Governance of the Subjects of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The mechanism of the Program will ensure coordination between state bodies for integrated scientific researches in the Arctic in the interests of economic and scientific development of the region, and the creation of the scientific, technical and technological reserve in order to ensure of national security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.

Life history of tundra-dwelling wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae) from the Yukon Territory, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 714-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Bowden ◽  
C.M. Buddle
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Wolf Spider ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Wolf Spiders ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
History Of

We studied populations of three tundra-dwelling wolf spider (Lycosidae) species to determine reproductive trait relationships and developmental timing in the Arctic. We collected 451 Pardosa lapponica (Thorell, 1872), 176 Pardosa sodalis Holm, 1970, and 117 Pardosa moesta Banks, 1892 during summer 2008. We used log-likelihood ratio tests and multiple linear regressions to determine the best predictors of fecundity and relative reproductive effort. Female body size best explained the variation in fecundity and body condition was the best predictor for relative reproductive effort. We tested for a trade-off between the allocation of resources to individual eggs and the number of eggs produced (fecundity) within each species using linear regression. There was variation in detectable egg size and number trade-offs among sites and these may be related to local variation in resource allocation linked to density-related biotic or abiotic factors. These findings contribute to knowledge about the fitness of arctic wolf spiders in the region of study and are particularly relevant in light of the effects that climate changes are predicted to have on the arctic fauna.

The Arctic: A Very Short Introduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Dodds ◽  
Jamie Woodward
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Changing Environment ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Uncertain Future

The Arctic: A Very Short Introduction provides an account of the Arctic, its physical environment, and its people. The Arctic is demanding global attention as it warms, melts, and thaws in a manner that threatens not just its 4 million inhabitants, but the whole planet. The reduction of the Arctic to its changing environment would ignore the complexities of the region and its potential. This VSI explores key issues facing the region today, from geopolitics to global warming. It examines the causes and effects of cultural, physical, ecological, political, and economic change in the Arctic, and considers its uncertain future.

Arctic archaeologies: recent work on Beringia

Antiquity ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (345) ◽  
pp. 740-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Maschner
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Far North ◽  
North East ◽  
Bering Land Bridge ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
The Bering Sea

This review considers three books on the archaeology of territories situated around the Bering Sea—a region often referred to as Beringia, adopting the term created for the Late Pleistocene landscape that extended from north-east Asia, across the Bering Land Bridge, to approximately the Yukon Territory of Canada. This region is critical to the archaeology of the Arctic for two fundamental reasons. First, it is the gateway to the Americas, and was certainly the route by which the territory was colonised at the end of the last glaciation. Second, it is the place where the entire Aleut-Eskimo (Unangan, Yupik, Alutiiq, Inupiat and Inuit) phenomenon began, and every coastal culture from the far north Pacific, to Chukotka, to north Alaska, and to arctic Canada and Greenland, has its foundation in the cultural developments that occurred around the Bering Sea.

scholarly journals Permafrost Hydrology Research Domain: Process-Based Adjustment

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikita Tananaev ◽  
Roman Teisserenc ◽  
Matvey Debolskiy
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Change ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Linguistic Relativity ◽  
Water Migration ◽  
Soil Matrix ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Research Domain ◽  
The Arctic Region

Permafrost hydrology is an emerging discipline, attracting increasing attention as the Arctic region is undergoing rapid change. However, the research domain of this discipline had never been explicitly formulated. Both 'permafrost' and 'hydrology' yield differing meanings across languages and scientific domains, hence 'permafrost hydrology' serves as an example of linguistic relativity. The differing views of permafrost as either an ecosystem class or a geographical region, and hydrology as a discipline concerned with either landscapes or generic water bodies, maintain a language-specific touch in the definition of permafrost hydrology. From this point of view, the English and Russian usage of this term is explained. A universal process-based definition is further proposed, developed on a specific process assemblage, including (i) water table dynamics caused by migration of an upper aquitard through freeze–thaw processes; (ii) water migration in soil matrix, driven by phase transitions in the active layer; (iii) transient water storage in solid state in the subsurface compartment. This definition is shown to fill the niche in existing vocabulary, and other definitions from northern hydrology field are revisited.

Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from arctic mudboils

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
K S Wilson ◽  
E R Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Net Ecosystem Exchange ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Plant Colonization ◽  
Patterned Ground ◽  
Organic C ◽  
C Balance

Climate change is expected to alter the Arctic’s carbon (C) balance and changes in these C-rich ecosystems may contribute to a positive feedback on global climate change. Low-center mudboils, a form of patterned ground in the Arctic, are distinct landforms in which the exchange of greenhouse gases between the atmosphere and soil has not been fully characterized, but which may have an important influence on the overall C balance of tundra ecosystems. Chamber systems were used to sample net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) and CO2 and CH4 effluxes along a 35-m transect intersecting two mudboils in a wet sedge fen in Canada’s Southern Arctic (lat. 64°52′N, long. 111°34′W) during the summer months in 2008. Mudboil features gave rise to dramatic variations in vegetation, soil temperature and thaw depth, and soil organic matter content along this transect. Variations in NEE were driven by variations in the amount of vascular vegetation, while CO2 and CH4 effluxes were remarkably similar among the two mudboil (CO2 effluxes: 1.1 ± 0.9 and 1.4 ± 0.7 µmol m-2 s-1; CH4 effluxes: 83.1 ± 189.4 and 23.1 ± 9.4 nmol m-2 s-1, ± 1 standard deviation) and the sedge fen (CO2 effluxes: 1.6 ± 0.7 mol m-2 s-1 ; CH4 effluxes: 28.0 ± 62.0 nmol m-2 s-1) sampling areas. Vegetation appeared to play an important role in limiting temporal variations in CH4 effluxes through plant mediated transport in both mudboil and sedge fen sampling areas. One of the mudboils had negligible vascular plant colonization presumably due to more active frost heave processes. The relatively high CO2 and CH4 efflux in this mudboil area was speculated to be a result of growth and decomposition of cryptogamic organisms, inflow of dissolved organic C, and warmer soil temperatures. Key words: Patterned ground, nonsorted circle, tundra, net ecosystem exchange, methane, carbon dioxide

Arctic Europe Between National Interests and Arctic Governance

2019 ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Igor Kochev ◽  
Wim Heijman
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Economic Point ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
The Eu

From an economic point of view, melting ice is making the Arctic ocean increasingly important for a number of countries – Arctic states as well as non-Arctic states. Also, the EU has clear interests in the area. This chapter provides a brief description of those interests and its implications on the EU's relationship with the Arctic partners. This note takes seven aspects of the EU-relations with the Arctic states into consideration (i.e., the institutional framework, the EU Arctic interests and policies, shipping, fishing, marine mammals, offshore oil and gas operations, and the EU's Arctic partners).

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