Questions about the Arctic? We’ve got Arctic Answers.
What are Arctic Answers?
The journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR) has partnered with SEARCH to produce Arctic Answers, two-page briefs that answer questions about Arctic environmental change. Each Arctic Answer is framed for decision makers but will be of interest to anyone concerned or curious to learn more about the changing Arctic environment.
Arctic Answers are written for a general audience by leading experts.
Reviewed for scientific accuracy and accessibility to readers with broad backgrounds, each brief concisely conveys the current state of knowledge while providing context, relevant information, and additional reading through a knowledge pyramid.
Each Arctic Answer sits at the top of the pyramid and is built upon layers of references of increasingly technical information: summaries, synthesis papers, and the building blocks of detailed, basic research and technical academic studies.
This online collection began in October 2021 and will continue to grow as more Arctic Answers briefs are added.
What Arctic questions do you have? Get in touch with our editors to ask your questions.
Current Arctic Answers
- Food security crisis in the Yukon River Basin: Where have the salmon gone and what can be done?
- How does the changing marine environment affect hunters’ access to Pacific walruses?
- Community-led relocations and the use of buyouts as an adaptation to climate change-induced flooding and erosion
- How is land ice changing in the Arctic, and what is the influence on sea level?
- How fast is sea level rising?
- Can extreme Arctic climate change be avoided with cost effective mitigation?
- How will diminishing sea ice impact commercial fishing in the Bering Sea?
- How are reduced Arctic sea ice and increased Greenland melting connected?
- Are Arctic meltdown and extreme tropical storms connected?
- How fast is the Greenland ice sheet melting?
- How is rapid Arctic warming influencing weather patterns in lower latitudes?
- When will the Arctic Ocean become ice-free?
- How is climate change affecting subsistence (or traditional) fisheries in the high Arctic?
- How does land motion influence sea level rise?
- How does climate change influence permafrost carbon feedback?
- How is diminishing Arctic sea ice influencing coastal communities?
- How is permafrost degradation affecting ecosystem services?
- How is permafrost degradation affecting infrastructure?
- How predictable are Arctic sea ice conditions?
- How will coastal communities be affected by climate change?
- What do we know about the future of Arctic sea-ice loss?
What about people in the Arctic?
How is the changing Arctic environment affecting people who live there? Click below to learn how changes in the Arctic are affecting people.
- Read our 2022 Arctic Report Card chapter, "Consequences of rapid environmental Arctic change for people."
- Listen to Ahtna Dine' Storyteller Wilson Justin speak about his experience of climate change.
What are your questions about the Arctic?
To suggest questions to be addressed by Arctic Answers briefs, or to volunteer to author a brief, contact one of the Arctic Answers editors:
- George Kling, gwk@umich.edu
- Brendan Kelly, bpkelly@alaska.edu
When a proposed question is accepted for Arctic Answers, authors will receive further instructions from the journal, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR).
Want to write an Arctic Answers brief?
Start with these resources:
- Arctic Answers Brief Template
- Knowledge Pyramid Template—please contact us for an editable version
- Tips for Creating a Good Arctic Answers Brief
- Arctic Answers Author Guidelines
- Writing policy briefs on why your science matters