Arctic Amplification and Policy Recommendations

Abstract

The objectives of the present study are to examine the consequences of increasing temperatures in the Artic and provide policy recommendations. We present a review of the connections between climate indicators and how these are amplified in the Arctic region. This has a direct effect in distant regions around the world. Increasing temperatures have direct consequences in many ecosystems ranging from the disruption of phytoplankton communities, ice-albedo feedbacks in the retreat of sea ice, sea rising levels and increasing wind induced coastal upwelling. Thanks to state-of-the-art technologies researchers can extract ecosystem related data and understand historical changes to visualize future changing patterns. The latter will serve to illustrate economic impacts for all the above-mentioned issues which not only affect the Arctic. The Arctic mirrors what the rest of the world could experience in the future if we do not achieve the temperature reduction needed. For this reason, the goal of this paper is to connect the climate system with current economic schemes to provide distinctive policy recommendations to support the road towards carbon negative economies.