In good CHARTER news, we are delighted to welcome Simo Sarkki to the project team. Simo has a PhD in anthropology and holds docentship on “anthropology of environmental governance” at the University of Oulu, Finland. Sarkki’s research interests include science-policy interfaces, land use in northern areas, scenarios, participatory approaches, and multi-level governance under the broader theme of environmental governance. Simo has
Conducting fieldwork in the midst of a pandemic has been a challenge for all academic projects that rely on fieldwork to be carried out ‘in the field’ to test hypotheses and gather raw data. Multiple fieldtrip have been cancelled, scaled back, or carried out in much-reduced circumstances. This has certainly been the case for the CHARTER project. Now, all research projects
Under gorgeous spring skies by the banks of the Ounasjoki river last Friday, CHARTER Arctic researchers Sirpa Rasmus and Leena Leppänen brought their snow science to the next generation of researchers. With the participation of the Grade 5 students from the Rovaniemi Steiner school students and their teacher, the principles of snow structure, snow pack, snow layers and the tools
Lumen päälle satava vesi ja lumipeitteen jääkerrokset ovat CHARTER- hankkeessa erityisen kiinnostuksen kohteena. Jäiset kerrokset vaikuttavat kasvien talvehtimisoloihin ja vaikeuttavat eläinten kaivautumista lumen läpi. Tällä on merkitystä myös pohjoisen elinkeinoille, muun muassa poronhoidolle. Lumipeitteen kerrosrakenne ja jääkerrokset havaitaan paikan päällä tehtävien lumikuoppien avulla. Näitä havaintoja hyödyntävät satelliittiavusteisten lumihavaintojen kehittäjät sekä lumi- ja ilmastomallinnuksen tekijät. Havaintoaineistoa voisivat käyttää myös alueen asukkaat
One aspect of the CHARTER project is to gain a better understanding of snow icing events, such as happens when rain falls on snow. This affects animal movements and behaviours and hinders animals from digging through the snow. Icing also impacts plants, and are very relevant for livelihoods such as reindeer herding. Snow profile observations (by digging snow pits to
An important new article with substantial CHARTER input has just been published in the journal Nature Communications. The article is titled New climate models reveal faster and larger increases in Arctic precipitation than previously projected. In other words, climate models are predicting that snowfall will be replaced by rain fall in the future, and this will occur at a faster rate than previous models suggested. You can download the article here (open access)
This phenomena is referred to as ‘Rain on Snow’ or ROS and it is something that is predicted to happen more often with potentially disastrous impacts on biodiversity in the Arctic. By way of example, tens of thousands of reindeer have died as a result of repeated ROS events in the Yamal peninsula and Finland in recent years, with potentially catastrophic consequences for reindeer herding peoples and cultures. The phenomona is also hazardous for other wildlife as rain refreezes and turns to ice, creating a physical barrier to pastures and nutrition. While ROS events are not unheard of, the frequency with which they are happening is.
The question of how to reach people and tell them about your research project, especially at the results stage is a difficult one. People are generally overwhelmed with information from multiple angles, and let’s be frank, emails seem very 2000. Do people even read them anymore? We jest, of course! But marketing research (eek!) suggests that people do subscribe to
An article has recently been published with substantial CHARTER researcher input. Published in the journal ‘Environmental Research Letters it is titled Arctic rain on snow events: bridging observations to understand environmental and livelihood impacts, the lead author is Marc Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Center, Uni of Colorado. CHARTER researchers involved include Julienne Stroeve, Bruce C Forbes, Sirpa Rasmus, Roza Laptander, and Annett
The first CHARTER General Assembly was arranged as a hybrid in person and online meeting in theHelsinki and in Zoom, 5 th -7 th October 2021. Developments in the COVID-19 situation were followed closely prior to the meeting and those attending in-person were advised to follow the current travelling and gathering guidelines. With an almost entirely virtual launch of the
CHARTER post-doc Andrew Martin (Andrew is in Work Package 4, see a video interview with him here) of the University of Oxford has recently published a paper in which he was the lead author (along with Work Package 4 leader Marc Macias-Fauria and CHARTER project leader Bruce Forbes, among others) in the journal, New Phytologist (read full article here, open
