Polar Content

In Greening Arctic, Caribou and Muskoxen Play Key Role

Katherine E Kerlin — November 12, 2024 - 5:30am

A �ٺ��Ƶ study highlights the importance of caribou and muskoxen to the greening Arctic tundra, linking grazing with plant phenology and abundance in the Arctic tundra.

Amanda Frazier: Holding Kindness

Katherine E Kerlin — August 08, 2022 - 10:00am

�ٺ��Ƶ polar fish ecologist Amanda Frazier on climate anxiety and the wonders of Antarctica and human kindness.

Caribou and Muskoxen Buffer Climate Impacts for Rare Plants

Katherine E Kerlin — January 27, 2022 - 8:45am

Being common is rather unusual. It’s far more common for a species to be rare, spending its existence in small densities throughout its range. How such rare species persist, particularly in an environment undergoing rapid climate change, inspired a 15-year study in arctic Greenland from the University of California, Davis.

Arctic Shrubs Add New Piece to Ecological Puzzle

Katherine E Kerlin — February 01, 2021 - 3:48pm

A 15-year experiment on Arctic shrubs in Greenland lends new understanding to an enduring ecological puzzle: How do species with similar needs and life histories occur together at large scales while excluding each other at small scales? The answer to this question has important implications for how climate change might shift species’ distributions across the globe.

Global Science Team on Red Alert as Arctic Lands Grow Greener

Katherine E Kerlin — January 31, 2020 - 12:05pm

Scientists are adopting new research techniques to tackle the most visible impact of climate change — the so-called greening of Arctic regions.

A paper published today in the journal Nature Climate Change describes how the latest drone and satellite technology is helping an international team of researchers better understand how the vast, treeless region called the tundra is becoming greener.

Outlook for the Polar Regions in a 2 Degrees Warmer World

Katherine E Kerlin — December 04, 2019 - 2:14pm

With 2019 on pace as one of the warmest years on record, a major new study from the University of California, Davis, reveals how rapidly the Arctic is warming and examines global consequences of continued polar warming.

The study, published today in the journal Science Advances reports that the Arctic has warmed by 0.75 C in the last decade alone. By comparison, the Earth as a whole has warmed by nearly the same amount, 0.8 C, over the past 137 years.

Melting Arctic Sea Ice Linked to Emergence of Deadly Virus in Marine Mammals

Katherine E Kerlin — November 07, 2019 - 8:00am

Scientists have linked the decline in Arctic sea ice to the emergence of a deadly virus that could threaten marine mammals in the North Pacific, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

Phocine distemper virus, or PDV, a pathogen responsible for killing thousands of European harbor seals in the North Atlantic in 2002, was identified in northern sea otters in Alaska in 2004, raising questions about when and how the virus reached them.

How Fast Are Ice Shelves Really Melting?

Katherine E Kerlin — February 22, 2019 - 12:55pm

A small group of scientists and doctoral students from the University of California, Davis, recently returned from Antarctica, where they became the first group to collect turbulence measurements from an underwater glider beneath an ice shelf.

This multinational collaboration being led by the Korea Polar Research Institute, or KOPRI, was only the second time a glider has been successfully deployed underneath an ice shelf.

Youth Climate Views: Keep Calm and Vote on

Katherine E Kerlin — November 01, 2018 - 10:34am

Twenty-seven years ago, my husband and I met while working as field biologists in the Arctic. It all started in a 1920’s trappers cabin on the Caribou River on the Southern tip of the Alaskan peninsula. As graduate students, we worked on caribou population ecology, climate change and the relationships between female caribou, their calves and wolves.

Spring Is Springing Earlier in Polar Regions Than Across the Rest of Earth

Katherine E Kerlin — March 02, 2018 - 3:16pm

Spring is arriving earlier, but how much earlier? The answer depends where on Earth you find yourself, according to a �ٺ��Ƶ study. For every 10 degrees north from the equator you move, spring arrives about four days earlier than it did a decade ago. That's roughly three times greater than what previous studies have indicated.