Present-Day Geomorphological Changes in Polar Regions.

• Main Authors: Zwolinski, Zbigniew, de Pablo, Elisabeth, Deslis, Jirasri, Fillon, Richard
• Other Authors: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM), Equipe Sémiotique Cognitive et Nouveaux Médias (ESCOM), Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme (FMSH), Projet européen "DIVAS", ESCoM-AAR et projet européen DIVAS, European Project: 34376,DIVAS
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: Geomorphological Changes in Polar Regions; Landscape changes (Artic regions); Climate change; Arctic; Antarctica; Symptoms of climate change; Terrestrial geoecosystems of polar regions; Glacier recession; Melting of permafrost; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; [SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Bioclimatology; [SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance; [SDV.SA.AEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Agriculture; economy and politics; [SHS.SCIPO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Political science; [SHS.SOCIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Sociology; Antarc*; Ice; Iceberg*; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.campus-aar.fr/medihal-01918748; https://hal.campus-aar.fr/medihal-01918748/document; https://hal.campus-aar.fr/medihal-01918748/file/509_32_zwolinski-LAN_720p.mp4

Fonds audiovisuel du programme "ESCoM-AAR" (Equipe Sémiotique Cognitive et nouveaux Médias - Archives Audiovisuelles de la Recherche. Paris, France, 2000 - 2016). The landscape uniqueness of polar zone manifests itself in morphological traces of older glaciations and marine transgressions, areas of present-day glaciations, multi-year permafrost, multi-year snow covers, deglaciation processes variable in time and space and resulting in an expansion of ice-free 94 areas, multi-directional geosuccession, and finally in the various responses of the Arctic peoples to landscape changes and the growing human impact. The abrupt landscape changes taking place over a period shorter than the life span of a single generation can be due to a wide variety of natural causes, whether endogenous or exogenous, or to the increasing, multi-directed human activity. At present, however, their principal cause is believed to be climate change at a variety of spatial scales. The paper presents examples of contemporary changes of morphologic surfaces from all the territory of the Arctic and Antarctica. Among the most significant environmental changes noted in the polar regions, can be list the following: • air temperatures frequently exceeding the hitherto absolute maxima, • an increase in annual precipitation totals, first of all in the form of rain, also during the cold period, • cold periods becoming milder and shorter, • transitional periods becoming longer: spring coming earlier and autumn ending later, • a decrease in the thickness, persistence and area of the sea-ice cover, • an increase in the number of icebergs from intensively calving glaciers, • an increase in the temperature and a decrease in the salinity and density of ocean waters; changes in the thermohaline circulation, • an increase in the level of the world ocean, • intense ablation and rapid recession of the majority of polar glaciers, • a decrease in the area of nival covers, • intensive thawing of multi-year permafrost, mainly in continental parts, • changes in the ...