Growing season changes in Fennoscandia and Kola peninsula during the period 1982 to 1999 - Implications for reindeer husbandry (In Norwegian with Summary in English)

• Main Authors: Hans Tømmervik, Kjell-Arild Høgda, Jan Åge Riseth, Stein-Rune Karlsen, Frans Emil Wielgolaski
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2005
• Subjects: growing season; changes; Norway; Fennoscandia; Kola; climate; Animal culture; SF1-1100; Karasjok; Kola Peninsula; kola peninsula; permafrost; Rangifer; reindeer husbandry; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7557/2.25.3.1743; https://doaj.org/article/c564d53dc333486dae4151f7273c7b3a

Climate change and particularly variations in air temperature have significant impacts on the growth rhythm of plants where these occur at the limits of their natural distribution range, especially at northern latitudes. Our study area, Fennoscandia and Kola Peninsula, is characterized by large regional climatic differences from south to north, from west to east, and from lowland to mountains. Accordingly, the region is well suited for looking for evidence of climatic change and studying regional differences in the response of such change. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that the projected warming in northern Europe is greater than for many other regions of the world. Therefore major physical and ecological changes are expected. On land, there will be a tendency for shifts in major biomes such as tundra and boreal forest. Permafrost will decline, trees and shrubs will encroach northern tundra, and broad-leaved trees may encroach coniferous forests. Net primary productivity in ecosystems is likely to increase. The temperature level at the end of the 20th century is ca. 0.5 oC higher than in the 1930 for the Northern hemisphere (IPCC and World Meteorological Organization). Other studies show that in the period 1890-1999, the increase in temperature over Fennoscandia varies between 0.02 (Karasjok) and 0.1 oC decade-1 (Helsinki), and they also showed that at several stations within the area the spring temperatures have increased steadily throughout the 20th century. Most stations experienced low spring temperatures in the beginning of the century, and rather high temperatures around 1950. At present, the winter temperature levels are considerably higher than in the rest of the period. However, at northern stations the winter temperatures were higher in the 1930s than at present. Phenological registrations have been used word-wide to look for possible effects of climate change, but within Fennoscandia the problem is that phenological registrations are sparse. On Kola Peninsula, however, such ...