Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America
Snow covers Arctic and boreal regions (ABRs) for approximately 9 months of the year, thus snowscapes dominate the form and function of tundra and boreal ecosystems. In recent decades, Arctic warming has changed the snowcover’s spatial extent and distribution, as well as its seasonal timing and durat...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 https://doaj.org/article/c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 2023-09-05T13:16:42+02:00 Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America Natalie T Boelman Glen E Liston Eliezer Gurarie Arjan J H Meddens Peter J Mahoney Peter B Kirchner Gil Bohrer Todd J Brinkman Chris L Cosgrove Jan U H Eitel Mark Hebblewhite John S Kimball Scott LaPoint Anne W Nolin Stine Højlund Pedersen Laura R Prugh Adele K Reinking Lee A Vierling 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 https://doaj.org/article/c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 1, p 010401 (2019) ABoVE Arctic boreal vulnerability experiment caribou Dall sheep polar bear remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 2023-08-13T00:37:31Z Snow covers Arctic and boreal regions (ABRs) for approximately 9 months of the year, thus snowscapes dominate the form and function of tundra and boreal ecosystems. In recent decades, Arctic warming has changed the snowcover’s spatial extent and distribution, as well as its seasonal timing and duration, while also altering the physical characteristics of the snowpack. Understanding the little studied effects of changing snowscapes on its wildlife communities is critical. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the urgent need for, and suggest an approach for developing, an improved suite of temporally evolving, spatially distributed snow products to help understand how dynamics in snowscape properties impact wildlife, with a specific focus on Alaska and northwestern Canada. Via consideration of existing knowledge of wildlife-snow interactions, currently available snow products for focus region, and results of three case studies, we conclude that improving snow science in the ABR will be best achieved by focusing efforts on developing data-model fusion approaches to produce fit-for-purpose snow products that include, but are not limited to, wildlife ecology. The relative wealth of coordinated in situ measurements, airborne and satellite remote sensing data, and modeling tools being collected and developed as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment and SnowEx campaigns, for example, provide a data rich environment for developing and testing new remote sensing algorithms and retrievals of snowscape properties. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Environmental Research Letters 14 1 010401 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ABoVE Arctic boreal vulnerability experiment caribou Dall sheep polar bear remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
ABoVE Arctic boreal vulnerability experiment caribou Dall sheep polar bear remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Natalie T Boelman Glen E Liston Eliezer Gurarie Arjan J H Meddens Peter J Mahoney Peter B Kirchner Gil Bohrer Todd J Brinkman Chris L Cosgrove Jan U H Eitel Mark Hebblewhite John S Kimball Scott LaPoint Anne W Nolin Stine Højlund Pedersen Laura R Prugh Adele K Reinking Lee A Vierling Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
topic_facet |
ABoVE Arctic boreal vulnerability experiment caribou Dall sheep polar bear remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Snow covers Arctic and boreal regions (ABRs) for approximately 9 months of the year, thus snowscapes dominate the form and function of tundra and boreal ecosystems. In recent decades, Arctic warming has changed the snowcover’s spatial extent and distribution, as well as its seasonal timing and duration, while also altering the physical characteristics of the snowpack. Understanding the little studied effects of changing snowscapes on its wildlife communities is critical. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the urgent need for, and suggest an approach for developing, an improved suite of temporally evolving, spatially distributed snow products to help understand how dynamics in snowscape properties impact wildlife, with a specific focus on Alaska and northwestern Canada. Via consideration of existing knowledge of wildlife-snow interactions, currently available snow products for focus region, and results of three case studies, we conclude that improving snow science in the ABR will be best achieved by focusing efforts on developing data-model fusion approaches to produce fit-for-purpose snow products that include, but are not limited to, wildlife ecology. The relative wealth of coordinated in situ measurements, airborne and satellite remote sensing data, and modeling tools being collected and developed as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment and SnowEx campaigns, for example, provide a data rich environment for developing and testing new remote sensing algorithms and retrievals of snowscape properties. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Natalie T Boelman Glen E Liston Eliezer Gurarie Arjan J H Meddens Peter J Mahoney Peter B Kirchner Gil Bohrer Todd J Brinkman Chris L Cosgrove Jan U H Eitel Mark Hebblewhite John S Kimball Scott LaPoint Anne W Nolin Stine Højlund Pedersen Laura R Prugh Adele K Reinking Lee A Vierling |
author_facet |
Natalie T Boelman Glen E Liston Eliezer Gurarie Arjan J H Meddens Peter J Mahoney Peter B Kirchner Gil Bohrer Todd J Brinkman Chris L Cosgrove Jan U H Eitel Mark Hebblewhite John S Kimball Scott LaPoint Anne W Nolin Stine Højlund Pedersen Laura R Prugh Adele K Reinking Lee A Vierling |
author_sort |
Natalie T Boelman |
title |
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
title_short |
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
title_full |
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
title_fullStr |
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
title_full_unstemmed |
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America |
title_sort |
integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in arctic-boreal north america |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 https://doaj.org/article/c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 1, p 010401 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/c77a3d72dba14192818e78a9b290c786 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeec1 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
010401 |
_version_ |
1776198183817314304 |