Overview
- A unique and comprehensive look at the Arctic
- Understanding the role of the Arctic in Earth System dynamics
- The Arctic as a laboratory of the Anthropocene
- The GlobalArctic: a warning for humankind
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Table of contents (24 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Evolving Images and Perceptions
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Front Matter
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Geography, Environment, and Climate
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Front Matter
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Keywords
About this book
The Arctic has become a global arena. This development can only be comprehensively understood from a transdisciplinary perspective encompassing ecological, cultural, societal, economic, industrial, geopolitical, and security considerations. This book offers thorough explanations of Arctic developments and challenges. Global warming is in large part the driving force behind the transformation of the Arctic by making access possible to the areas previously out of reach for mining and shipping. An all-year ice-free Arctic Ocean, a reality possible as soon as perhaps 2030, creates a new dynamic in the North. The retreating ice edge enables the exploitation of previously inaccessible resources such as hydrocarbon deposits and rare metals, as well as the shortest sea route from Asia to Europe. Consequently, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) promises faster and cheaper shipping. Russia, along side foreign investment, especially from China, is financing the needed infrastructure.
A warming Arctic, however, also has negative impacts. The Arctic is home to fragile ecosystems that are already showing signs of deteriorating. The Arctic has seen unprecedented wildfires, which, together with the release of trapped methane from the disappearing permafrost, will, in turn, accelerate global warming. A warmer Arctic Ocean will also negatively impact fisheries. Couple this with other global changes, such as ocean acidification and modified ocean currents, and the global outlook is bleak. Additionally, the security situation in the Arctic is worsening. After the 2014 Ukraine crisis, the West imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation, which have revived the divisions of the Cold War. The reemergence of these postures is threatening the highly successful Barents Cooperation and other initiatives for peace in the circumpolar North. This book offers new insights and presents arguments for how to mitigate the challenges the Arctic is facing today.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Gunnar Rekvig is an Associate Professor at UiT the Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Norway, and the 2019-2021 Nansen Professor at the University of Akureyri (UNAK), Iceland. He was an Assistant Professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), Tokyo, Japan (2018-2019).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Global Arctic
Book Subtitle: An Introduction to the Multifaceted Dynamics of the Arctic
Editors: Matthias Finger, Gunnar Rekvig
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81253-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-81252-2Published: 26 February 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-81255-3Published: 27 February 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-81253-9Published: 25 February 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 486
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Earth Sciences, general, Economic Geography, Geography, general, Popular Culture , Environmental Policy, Human Geography