KAES1101 Introduction to the Arctic

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KAES1101Introduction to the Arctic

• Course IntroductionSept 13-15, 2005
• scott.forrest_at_ulapland.fi

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Background to Arctic Studies Program

• Established in 1991
• Undergraduate, interdisciplinary program in
  English
• Part of University of Laplands
  internationalization strategy
• First basic course in Spring 1992
• Run annually from the fall since 1992
• Advanced component added, Spring 1993
• Most students originally came from UK, Russia,
  Germany, Canada, Finland, USA
• Supported by ERASMUS, Northern Consortium, and
  north2north mobility programs
• Normally incorporating at least one excursion to
  Lapland/Kola region
• Began integration of University of the Arctics
  Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies, 2002
• Now part of ULaplands international studies
  programs, together with Northern Resources
  masters programme, Russian Studies, Intercultural
  Communication, etc.

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ASP Structure
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Background to Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies

• Arose through the University of the Arctic, based
  on the success of programs like the ASP
• Aim was to create a broad, interdisciplinary, and
  circumpolar undergraduate program that could be
  accessed by students of different northern
  universities
• A program about the north, designed by
  northerners for northerners. Relevant to northern
  reality.
• Designed from the beginning with flexible modes
  of delivery in mind classroom, field, online,
  exchange, etc
• University of the Arctics signature program
• Structure of Intro, Core, Advanced Emphasis
• Thematically organized into Peoples and Cultures,
  Lands and Environments, and Contemporary Issues
• Degree, if any, granted from home university,
  according to local and national standards, and
  approved by the University of the Arctic
• Currently being taught online and in several
  different classroom-based versions, including the
  University of Lapland/Arctic Centres Arctic
  Studies Program
• ASP was reorganized to incorporate BCS materials
  and follow the overall BCS structure
• By taking additional literature exams, ASP
  students are able to get full equivalent credits
  for BCS courses to transfer back to participating
  home institutions

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Objectives of the Course

• Acquire a basic knowledge of the regions
  geography, peoples, and their systems of
  knowledge
• Develop and introductory understanding of the
  physical and biological features and processes in
  the region.
• Begin to orient your socio-cultural perspective
  to a northern viewpoint, seeing the Arctic as an
  active an important region rather than a distant
  periphery.

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Course Structure andReading List

• What is the Arctic? Geography of the Circumpolar
  Region
• BCS 100 1 Introduction
• AMAP 2002 2 Setting the Stage
• Arctic Systems and Environment (no lecture)
• BCS 100 2 Geographic and Physical Processes
• Readings from KAES1201 http//www.arcticcentre.or
  g/?deptid16644
• BCS 100 6 Environment and Global Climate Change
• Arctic Flora and Fauna
• BCS 100 3 Biological Features and Processes
• CAFF 2 Ecology
• Peoples and Cultures
• BCS 100 4 Peoples and Cultures
• AHDR 2 Arctic Demography
• History of the Arctic Region
• BCS 100 5 History of the Circumpolar World
• International Cooperation in the Arctic
• BCS 100 13 International Cooperation
• AHDR 12 Circumpolar International Relations and
  Geopolitics
• Excursion to Pyhä (Sept 22-23)

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Grade StructureExam Oct 7, 0900-1200

• Arctic Map Quiz (25)
• Identify names of 20 geographic locations listed
  on a map
• Locate 20 geographic locations on a map from a
  list
• Flora and Fauna Identification Quiz (25)
• Identify 25 species by common name from a photo
  or illustration (English 2, Finnish or Russian
  1)
• Bonus points for correct scientific genus
  species
• Definitions Quiz (50)
• define or explain terms
• glossary terms from BCS modules
• list of scientific terms from Arctic Systems and
  Environment
• major terms and concepts from other readings

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General Arctic Resources

• Non-scientific reports
• Arctic Flora and Fauna Status and Conservation
  (CAFF, 2001) http//www.caff.is/sidur/sidur.asp?id
  18menudocs
• Arctic Pollution, State of the Arctic Environment
  (AMAP, 2002) http//amap.no/documents/index.cfm?di
  rsub/Arctic20Pollution202002sortdefault
• Impacts of a Warming Climate (Arctic Climate
  Impact Assessment, ACIA, 2004) http//amap.no/work
  docs/index.cfm?dirsub2FACIA2Foverview
• Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR, 2004)
  http//www.svs.is/AHDR/AHDR20chapters/Chapters20
  PDF.htm
• Course Material
• Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies (UArctic BCS
  Intro Core courses) http//www.uarctic.org/bcs/s
  tudents.html
• NOST 202 Social History of the North (Yukon
  College) http//www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/agraham/no
  st202/
• Scientific Texts
• To the Arctic an introduction to the far
  northern world (S. Young, 1989)
• Arctic Adaptations Native Whalers And Reindeer
  Herders Of Northern Eurasia (I. Krupnik, 1993)
• The Arctic Environment, People, Policy (ed,
  Nuttall, 2000)
• The Arctic Climate System (Serreze Barry, 2005)
• Encyclopedia of the Arctic (ed. Nuttall, 2004)
• Arctic Politics Conflict And Cooperation In The
  Circumpolar North (O. Young, 1992)
• Scientific Journals
• Arctic (Arctic Institute of North America)
• Arctic and Alpine Research
• Polar Record

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General Arctic Resources

• Web Sites
• Arctic Council www.arctic-council.org
• University of the Arctic www.uarctic.org
• The Arctic Is www.thearctic.is
• Arctic Centre www.arcticcentre.org
• PolarWeb http//arcticcentre.ulapland.fi/polarweb/
  
• Arctic Circle www.arcticcircle.uconn.edu
• Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program
  www.amap.no
• Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna
  www.caff.is
• International Arctic Science Committee
  www.iasc.no
• International Polar Year www.ipy.org
• BarentsInfo www.barentsinfo.org

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Introductionto the Arctic

• Starting Points and Preconceptions

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Self-Evaluation

• Why do you want to study the Arctic? What
  interests you?
• What do you think of when you hear the word
  Arctic?

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Exoticism and Romanticism

• Greek geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massalía
  claimed that Ultima Thule was found six days
  journey north of Britain, and the sun never set
  there.
• Even up to the Middle Ages, the idea of Ultima
  Thule persisted as a mythical place beyond the
  known world
• As a little-known and distant place, the Arctic
  and the North have become powerful images in
  popular culture throughout the world. Perhaps
  more than any other region on earth, the idea of
  the North is far out of proportion with most
  peoples actual knowledge of the region.
• Popular images of the Arctic are dominated by
  barren frozen landscapes (empty of inhabitants)
  which must be conquered by adventurous heroes
  (usually white men). The people, particularly the
  Inuit, are idealized with romantic images as a
  kind of friendly noble savage
• This attitude towards can be seen throughout the
  history of the region in the expeditions by polar
  explorers, resource exploitation, colonization
  and settlement by southern states, and continues
  today in such forms as polar tourism

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North as Here

• A primary objective of the course is to begin to
  orient your thinking about the Arctic from being
  a strange place out there to a central place
  here
• This course is for both northerners and
  non-northerners, although it takes a northern
  perspective
• This is not southern wes talking about northern
  theys. This takes a voice of a northern we,
  even if we are sometimes talking to southern
  wes or theys
• Its important we begin to understand the North
  from the point of view of the people that live
  here. That this is a homeland, and a normal
  environment from our perspective. One of the
  many themes you will wrestle with in your time
  here is the contrasting images of the North as a
  barren frozen wasteland, and that of the
  Friendly Arctic as Canadian-Icelandic explorer
  Viljhamur Stefansson called it in his book of the
  same name.
• Barren ground is a libellous name by which the
  open land of the north is commonly described. The
  name is better adapted for creating the
  impression that those who travel in the North are
  intrepid adventurers than it is for conveying to
  the reader a true picture of the country. If we
  want to be near the truth we should begin by
  removing the imaginary Arctic from our minds

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The Arctic as a Region

• People have travelled, traded and interacted
  around the Arctic region for millennia
• The first peoples of the Americas arrived from
  Eurasia across the Beringia land bridge
  (probably)
• Vikings reached out from Scandinavia as far as
  North America, the Mediterranean, and the Caspian
  Sea
• Although relations across parts of the Arctic
  have existed throughout history, it is only since
  the end of the Cold War that the concept of the
  Arctic as a common international region has
  emerged
• In this view the north pole is seen as an axis
  (centre point) rather than the top of the world
  and the Arctic ocean is seen as a kind of
  Mediterranean, uniting rather than separating
  countries

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Introduction to the Arctic

• Concepts and Definitions

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Knowledge starting point

• What do you know about the Arctic?
• How many people live in the Arctic?
• Why is it so cold in the Arctic?
• What causes northern lights (aurora borealis)?
• What are the eight Arctic countries?
• Where do the Yupik live?
• What is tundra?

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• Arctic tern
• Sterna paradisaea

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Northern Literacy Interdisciplinarity

• Traditional university programs produce
  specialists with deep disciplinary focus
• The North is a region where natural and social
  systems are particularly integrated and
  interdependent
• Small populations, social histories, cold
  climate, sensitive environmental and biological
  systems mean small changes have broad and complex
  consequences
• Understanding the potential effects of new
  developments, be they social, economic,
  environmental, etc, requires at least a basic
  understanding of the lands, nature, people,
  cultures, and issues in the North
• Furthermore, responding to the challenges facing
  the North in ones own area of study requires
  being able to talk to experts from different
  specialities. You need a basic understanding of
  other disciplines to be able to discuss with one
  another.
• The world outside the Arctic has a tremendous
  effect on the North, as environmental, economic,
  and social systems are integrated through global
  processes. It is just as important that those
  potentially making important decisions that will
  affect the future of the Arctic know something
  about the region. Particularly, as the what works
  in the south, rarely works in the North. That is
  as true for developing language education or
  medical services as it is for building roads, or
  exploring for oil.

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Looking at Maps

• An important part of how the popular imagination
  sees the Arctic comes from how it appears on our
  maps
• We cant begin to change our perspective about
  the Arctic until we start to change the map
• All maps distort distance, shape, area, or
  direction, as you cannot accurately depict a
  sphere in 2D space.
• The choices of mapmakers in attempting to portray
  the earth on a flat surface reflects a
  socio-cultural viewpoint. What is in the centre?
  What is distorted to appear larger?

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Robinson Projection
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Mercator Projection
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Unprojected
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Azimuthal Equidistant
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(No Transcript)
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Locating and Defining the North

• As much a concept as place
• A product of popular imagination and the subject
  of a great deal of ignorance and misconception
• Dominated by individual and disciplinary
  perspectives
• Single-factor definitions
• Northern environment is a factor of the tilt of
  the earths axis and its orbit around the sun
• Arctic circle 66, limit of sunlight at
  winter/summer solstice
• Other latitudes 55/60/70/75 (Ancient Greeks
  divided world into three tiers, with 60
• 10 July Isotherm (climatologic), which also
  corresponds roughly with the treeline
  (biological)
• For most natural scientists the Arctic is above
  the treeline, and the subarctic follows below it.
• Maximum extent of sea ice (February/August)
  (maritime)
• Regions inhabited by northern peoples (Inuit,
  Sami, northern Russian indigenous peoples)
  (social-anthropological)
• Arctic states, or the northernmost political
  divisions of those states (political)
• Multiple factor indexes
• Soviet scholars (Slavin) produced index combining
  northern latitude, climate, population, and level
  of economic development
• Canadian scholar Hamelin, spent lifes work
  refining his Nordicity index with ten factors
  weighted on a scale of 100, to produce a value
  out of 1000 (valeur polaire, or VAPO)
• VAPO included many factors which measured
  remoteness such as population and
  transportation networks, as well as climatic and
  latitudinal measurements
• AMAP assessment area north of the Arctic Circle
  (6632N), and north of 62N in Asia and 60N in
  North America, modified to include the marine
  areas north of the Aleutian chain, Hudson Bay,
  and parts of the North Atlantic Ocean including
  the Labrador Sea
• Similar boundary area definitions arising from
  other Arctic Council working groups and reports,
  such as CAFF, ACIA, AHDR, blending physical,
  natural (climate, ecosystem), and human
  (nordicity, political units) definitions.

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North, Arctic, or Circumpolar Whats in a Name?

• Arctic
• Technically only applies to the area North of the
  Arctic Circle, where very few people live, or
  north of the line beyond which trees do not grow
• Often includes the region just south of the
  Arctic Circle or treeline, referred to as low
  Arctic or subarctic. This region is largely
  comprised of Boreal Forest. Boreal means
  north (same Latin root as Aurora Borealis)
• Boreal forest is the worlds single largest
  ecosystem
• The line between Arctic/subarctic/boreal vary
  across the North, and throughout geological
  history. Petrified remains of great forests are
  found in the high arctic islands of Axel Heiberg.
• Because of the contiguousness/connectedness of
  the Arctic and subarctic, they are usually
  studied as one region and Arctic is used to
  refer to them collectively.

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North, Arctic, or Circumpolar Whats in a Name?

• North
• At first glance, North would seem to be
  preferable to Arctic to refer to the total
  region, but it is the most relative of all the
  terms available to us
• If youre from Moscow, St. Petersburg is north,
  Copenhagen-Stockholm, Toronto-North Bay, Cape
  Town or Melbourne, pretty much everything is
  north.
• Indeed, Australia has an extensive territory- the
  Northern Territory that shares many
  characteristics of what we call north
  sparsely populated, far from the centres of
  decision-making power, proportionately more
  indigenous people than any other part of the
  country. With the exception of its equatorial
  climate behaves like many other remote northern
  places
• 128 million results for north on Google- very
  few of which refer to the region were talking
  about
• Arctic is too precise, North not precise
  enough

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North, Arctic, or Circumpolar Whats in a Name?

• Circumpolar
• The main problem with circumpolar is that it
  literally means around the pole, so it can
  equally mean the region around the South Pole.
  Our map is called the North Circumpolar Region,
  which is a bit of a mouthful.
• However, there is growing international practice
  to use the term circumpolar to refer to only the
  northern region. Since there are no permanent
  inhabitants of the southern circumpolar region,
  and the northern circumpolar region is integrated
  in many ways that the south is not, the north
  circumpolar exists as a region in many ways that
  the south (Antarctica) does not
• So while the Arctic Studies Program uses Arctic
  the Northern Resources Masters program uses
  North(ern), the BCS uses Circumpolar, we can
  rest assured that most of us will know what were
  talking about, but many others will be confused.
• Whatever term we use, it important to understand
  this as a single region, since almost everything
  in it crosses the borders of the eight countries
  that comprise the circumpolar region, often
  without much regard for them.

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AMAP Assessment Area
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CAFF Boundary
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AHDR Boundary
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Arctic Population
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Arctic Population
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Circumpolar Map Quiz

• Cities
• Alert
• Iqaluit
• Rankin Inlet
• Yellowknife
• Whitehorse
• Inuvik
• Fairbanks
• Anchorage
• Barrow
• Nome
• Anadyr
• Okhostsk
• Norilsk
• Murmansk
• Arkhangelsk
• Rovaniemi
• Kiruna
• Tromso

• Land
• Alaska
• Canada
• Faroe Islands
• Finland
• Greenland
• Iceland
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• Baffin Island
• Ellesmere Island
• Franz Josef Land
• Kodiak Islands
• Kola Peninsula
• Novaya Zemlya
• St. Lawrence Island
• Svalbard
• Victoria Island

• Water
• Arctic Ocean
• Baffin Bay
• Baltic Sea
• Barents Sea
• Beaufort Sea
• Bering Sea
• Bering Strait
• Chukchi Sea
• Davis Inlet
• Denmark Strait
• E. Siberian Sea
• Greenland Sea
• Gulf of Bothnia
• Hudson Bay
• Kara Sea
• Labrador Sea
• Laptev Sea
• North Sea

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Circumpolar Map Quiz
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Circumpolar Map Quiz
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Arctic Systems and EnvironmentScientific Terms

• Oscillation
• Cycle
• Flux
• Feedback
• Ozone hole
• Greenhouse gas
• CO2
• CH4
• Convection
• CFCs
• Equilibrium
• Steady State
• Transient
• Signal to Noise ratio
• Linear/Non-Linear
• Trend-line
• Flow
• Advection

• Dimension
• Stochastic
• Phase
• Amplitude
• Wavelength
• Statistically significant
• Frequency
• Fluid
• Isotropic
• Solar-constant
• Holocene
• Anthropogenic
• Pleistocene glaciation
• Isotope
• Ion
• Atom
• Aerosol
• Climate Proxy