The National Academies’ Polar Research Board is pleased to announce a call for abstracts for the AGU session:
Drivers and Implications of Recent Changes in Arctic Greening and Browning Remote sensing observations of the Arctic show recent and complex changes in tundra vegetation. For many decades a trend toward greener vegetation (‘Arctic greening’) was observed across the circumpolar region. Recently however, greater variability in the extent of greening has been seen and decreases in vegetation (‘Arctic browning’) have been observed in some regions in some years. The drivers of this increased variability in greening versus browning among years and across the landscape is currently poorly understood. Expansive changes in tundra vegetation could have strong implications for the surface energy balance and climate change in the Arctic, as well as impacts on permafrost thaw, carbon cycling, hydrological processes, vegetation composition, and biota. This session solicits abstracts on the underlying drivers and the potential impacts of Arctic greening and browning, and abstracts that discuss the research needed to continue to advance our scientific understanding of this topic. Invited Speakers: Uma Bhatt, University of Alaska Fairbanks and John Gamon, University of Nebraska – Lincoln Conveners: Larry Hinzman, Natalie Boelman, Howie Epstein, April Melvin
