The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) announces the next Ar ctic Research Seminar featuring Gerald "J.J." Frost from Alaska Biological Research (ABR), Inc. This event will be held online via Zoom on Friday, 29 May 2020 at 9:00 a.m. AKDT (1:00 p.m. EDT).
Registration is requi red for this event. Instructions for accessing the webinar will be sen t to registrants prior to the event.
Note: In additi on to the Zoom presentation, a free livestream of this webinar will be broa dcast on YouTube. A facilitator will help those participants submit written questions to the speaker. Please be aware there will be a slight delay fro m the Zoom presentation. A link to the YouTube broadcast will be provided b y 8:00 a.m. AKDT on the day of event. Please check the Seminar Series webpage for m ore information.
This seminar, titled The “Greening” of the Arcti c: Causes and Consequences of Change in the Arctic Tundra Biome Seen throug h the Lens of Satellites, Field Research, and Local Observations, will be presented by Gerald "J.J." Frost, senior scientist at ABR, Inc. J.J. Fr ost is an ecologist with a multidisciplinary research background focused on Arctic tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science at the University of Virginia in 2013. J.J. has accumulated over twenty years of field experience in Alaska and northw estern Siberia. His recent work has focused on tundra vegetation dynamics, interactions and feedbacks between vegetation and permafrost, landscape cha nge detection, and long-term monitoring of vegetation and permafrost. J.J.’ s research integrates field measurements with a variety of modern and histo rical remote-sensing datasets to elucidate current ecosystem conditions and long-term change.
Seminar Abstract:
Arctic la nds and seas have experienced dramatic environmental and climatic changes i n recent decades, and the pace of change is expected to accelerate in the f uture. Beginning in the early 1980s, a constellation of Earth-observing sat ellites has provided a unique vantage point for observing the remote and dy namic Arctic tundra biome—the treeless environment encircling most of the A rctic Ocean. The satellite record shows that the productivity of tundra veg etation has increased since the late 20th century, a phenomenon commonly re ferred to as “the greening of the Arctic.” Trends in tundra productivity, h owever, have not been uniform in direction or magnitude across the circumpo lar region and there has been substantial variability from year to year. Th is variability arises from a web of complex interactions that link the vege tation, atmosphere, sea-ice, seasonal snow cover, ground (soils, permafrost , and topography), and animals of the Arctic system. In this talk JJ will b egin with an overview of the tundra biome and address the questions: what a re the drivers of Arctic vegetation change? What types of change would be a pparent to an observer on the ground? And, what are the consequences of the se changes for Arctic residents and the rest of the globe? JJ will explore these questions through the lens of the satellite record, field studies, an d the rich knowledge-base of Arctic residents to understand the drivers and impacts of ecological change in the Arctic tundra biome.
The ARCUS A rctic Research Seminar Series invites leading Arctic researchers and commun ity leaders to share the latest findings in Arctic research and what they m ean for decision-making. The events are free and open to the public, and wi ll be of particular interest to the international Arctic research community , Arctic educators, non-governmental organizations, federal agency official s, and the public.
For those on Twitter, we invite you to join us in live-tweeting the event using the hashtag #arcuswebinar.
For more inf
ormation and to register for the event, go to:
Arctic Research Seminar Series web
page
For questions, contact:
Stacey Stoudt
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