The Arctic plays a vital role in the Earth's climate system through complex interactions among the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere. Its sea ice cover reflects most of the incoming solar radiation and regulates the surface energy balance. Freshwater and heat fluxes associated with river runoff, the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet as well as the formation and melting of sea ice can influence deep-water formation in the North Atlantic and hence the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Additionally, the meridional temperature gradient between low and high latitudes drives large-scale atmospheric circulation. In the meantime, Arctic permafrost and peatlands store vast amounts of carbon, and the region is home to unique and vulnerable ecosystems.
However, anthropogenic climate change is warming the Arctic nearly four times faster than the global average in recent decades. Numerous feedbacks amplify this Arctic warming, known as Arctic amplification, and modulate the response of climate. The resulting changes are affecting Arctic ecosystems and potentially also influence remote regions through atmospheric and oceanic teleconnections.
Past warm climates act as natural laboratories and provide valuable information for the understanding of key processes and feedbacks involved in Arctic changes, establishing a basis for constraining future Arctic projections. Climate models on the other hand, project that the Arctic Ocean could become nearly ice-free during summers within the next few decades. Nevertheless, substantial uncertainties remain regarding the future Arctic evolution, potential variation of its influence on the global climate system and its ecosystem responses under continued warming. The ERC synergy grant i2B (Into the Blue) aims to address these research gaps by an integrative approach, combining paleoclimate evidence, modern observations, and numerical modelling.
Building on this interdisciplinary perspective, this session brings together studies that explore Arctic processes and their wider implications across different climate states. Therefore, we welcome contributions from all career stages investigating the Arctic mechanisms, impacts and interconnections across past, present, and future warm climate states from observational, proxy, or modelling perspectives.