Environmental News Network, ScienceDaily report on UMaine-led abrupt climate change response study
Environmental News Network and ScienceDaily published a University of Maine news release about a recent study that found new evidence that Arctic ecosystems undergo rapid, strong and pervasive environmental changes in response to climate shifts. Links between abrupt climate change and environmental response have long been considered delayed or dampened by internal ecosystem dynamics, or only strong in large magnitude climate shifts. The international research team, led by Jasmine Saros, associate director of the UMaine Climate Change Institute, found evidence of a “surprisingly tight coupling” of environmental responses in an Arctic ecosystem experiencing rapid climate change. Using more than 40 years of weather data and paleoecological reconstructions, the 20-member team quantified rapid environmental responses to recent abrupt climate change in West Greenland.