Arctic Council Working Group

Extreme ice/snow cover

Nest in snow storm

Nest in snow storm
Photo: Dan Ruthrauff/USGS

Download this table as CSV

	Monitoring ecosystem impacts of the extreme event				Description of extreme event				Detecting and monitoring the extreme event itself
Name	Suggested background data needed to assess impact on ecosystem/biodiversity (if any)*	Suggested method to monitor impacts of extreme event (if different from or background data are missing)	Expected temporal scale of impact	Priority FECs to monitor	Description	Expected temporal scale of extreme event itself	Expected spatial scale of extreme event itself	Types of impact (and relevant cascading effects)	Definition of extreme event (see also Definition-sheet)	Variable to detect extreme event	Method to monitor (risk of) extreme event itself (if different from detection method)	Reference/Links
Thickness	Diversity, abundance, composition, productivity, phenology, spatial structure, ecosystem functions and processes, phenology, demographics, temporal cycles and health for flora and fauna	Monitor in affected and comparable reference area	< 1 year			Brief (< month)	Large (region/ > 10 km2)	Delay of snow melt and uncover of vegetation, decreases availability of feed for higher trophic levels and higher risk of mismatch		Weekly measurements of snow cover thickness		Kunkel, K.E., Robinson, D.A., Champion, S. et al. Trends and Extremes in Northern Hemisphere Snow Characteristics. Curr Clim Change Rep 2, 65–73 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-016-0036-8 Bokhorst, S., Pedersen, S.H., Brucker, L. et al. Changing Arctic snow cover: A review of recent developments and assessment of future needs for observations, modelling, and impacts. Ambio 45, 516–537 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0770-0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-016-0770-0
Spatial coverage	Diversity, abundance, composition, productivity, phenology, spatial structure, ecosystem functions and processes, phenology, demographics, temporal cycles and health for flora and fauna	Monitor in affected and comparable reference area	< 1 year			Medium (< year)	Large scale (Regional, > 100 km2)	Larger area, with potential decerased availablity of feed for higher trophic levels		Weekly measurements of snow cover thickness combined with satelite information on spatial range		https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/snow-ice
Temporal coverage	Diversity, abundance, composition, productivity, phenology, spatial structure, ecosystem functions and processes, phenology, demographics, temporal cycles and health for flora and fauna	Monitor in affected and comparable reference area	< 1 year			Medium (< year)	Large (region/ > 10 km2)	Delay in uncover of vegetation, decreases productivity, availability of feed for higher trophic levels and higher risk of mismatch		Weekly measurements of snow cover thickness		https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/snow-ice

Experts

1