The German contribution: Major topic
Polar areas in a changing world-climate
Current changes in the light of alternating warm and cold periods
The polar regions are key to the development of global climate. Already, the whole Arctic and some regions in the Antarctic are undergoing remarkable changes, affecting all components of the climate and ecosystem.
Within this context, the German IPY research projects include the following topics:
- Establishing a panarctic and circumantarctic inventory of all relevant climate and ecosystem factors, to be used as a reference against long-term observations
- Improving climate models that predict climate development and sea level changes
- Analysis and modelling of climate-induced changes to biodiversity and related alterations to ecosystem functioning
- Identification of key processes in highly sensitive geo- and ecosystems under consideration of land use effects.
- Inhabiting the Arctic: Adaptive strategies for identification and use of natural resources.
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