Research
The research scientists participating in IGERT have broad expertise in studying the atmosphere, ice, snow, sea ice, soil, surface and ground water, vegetation and animal populations, along with the human dimensions of environmental change and indigenous cultures.
The Dartmouth IGERT trains students to understand the cascading response of ecological  and physical systems to climate change, and the linked human social, economic and political effects. Our research training is coupled to a coordinated core curriculum and focuses on three components of Arctic or Antarctic systems responding to rapid change in climate:
- the cryosphere – glacial ice, snow, sea ice systems
- terrestrial ecosystems and biogeochemical linkages between the soil, plant, and animal system
- human systems – the process of policy making in political and social systems where western science and traditional knowledge (TK) provide information that at times may be in conflict.
The Cryosphere: Snow and Ice
Global warming causes sea ice and glacier ice masses to exhibit alarming rates of change, promoting sea level rise that directly impacts both local indigenous peoples and people worldwide. In addition, the Arctic experiences anthropogenic pollution from the mid-latitudes that impacts its food supply; the same forms of pollution also contaminate lakes and ecosystems in the New England region of the U.S.
Research in snow and ice focuses on questions such as:
- How is the Arctic sea ice changing spatially and temporally in relation to climate conditions, and how does sea ice influence climate through its impact on albedo and the hydrological cycle?
- How is the accumulation rate changing on the polar ice sheets?
- What is the environmental and atmospheric history recorded in the polar ice sheets, and how can we develop technology to enable better ice core interpretation?
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Terrestrial ecosystems in polar regions are important for the ecosystem services they provide to indigenous people and for understanding, more generally, ecosystem responses and feedbacks to future climate change.
Terrestrial research training focuess on questions such as:
- Through which mechanisms will climate change affect animal (e.g., caribou and muskoxen) populations?
- How do soil processes and their responses to climatic variations affect vegetation, nutrient dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions?
- How does climate influence the movement of heavy metals through ecosystems and affect exposure to northern peoples?
Contaminants in Polar Environments
Melting snow, ice and soil releases pollutants into the environment that move into the Arctic food web. Research here examines the deposition and transport of contaminants in snow with a focus on accumulation, mobilization, and release of atmospherically deposited chemical contaminants in snow.
When collected and analyzed with Native community participation, this information may lead to site-specific consumption advisories that are useful to northern communities at risk. Contamination research is very relevant to understanding how northern communities may choose to respond politically, socially, and scientifically to increasing contamination of their subsistence food. |
