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Successful deep drilling at Lake El'gygytgyn (67°30'N, 172°05'E), in the center of western Beringia, recovered 315 m of sediment, representing the longest time-continuous sediment record of past climate change in the terrestrial Arctic. The core was taken using the DOSECC GLAD800 (Global Lake Drilling 800 m) hydraulic/rotary system engineered for extreme weather, using over-thickened lake ice as a drilling platform. El'gygytgyn is a Yup'ik name that has been variously translated as "the white lake" or "the lake that never thaws." Today, the lake maintains an ice cover nine to 10 months per year.

The modern industrialized and urbanized world, dubbed the "Anthropocene" by Paul Crutzen (2006), includes the past 250 years of multiple human impacts. Nobel Prize winner and atmospheric chemist Crutzen states: During the past 3 centuries human population increased tenfold to 6,000 million, growing by a factor of four during the past century alone. More than half of all accessible fresh water is used by mankind. Fisheries remove more than 25% of the primary production of the oceans in the upwelling regions and 35% in the temperature continental shelf regions. 30–50% of the world's land surface has been transformed by human action. Coastal wetlands have lost 50% of the world's mangroves. More nitrogen is now fixed synthetically and applied as fertilizers in agriculture than fixed naturally in all terrestrial ecosystems. Many of the world's rivers have been dammed or diverted.

Last of the Ice Bears? Climate Change Threatens Iconic Polar Bears’ Food Sources In 1773, King George III of England appointed naval officer Constantine John Phipps to command an Arctic expedition. Phipps was dispatched to search for a passage to the Pacific Ocean. Instead, on the ice fields near Spitsbergen (now Svalbard), Norway, he found polar bears. The explorer was the first to describe the bears as a distinct species, Ursus maritimus. Were he to undertake the journey today, Phipps would spot polar bears not on sea ice, but wandering along rocky shorelines, searching for frozen water.

Although climate variations and sea level changes are often discussed interchangeably, climate change need not always result in sea level change. Perturbations in Earth’s orbit cause major climate changes, and the resulting variations in the amount and distribution of solar radiation at ground level follow cycles lasting for thousands of years. Research done in the last decade shows that climate can change on centennial or shorter time scales. These more rapid changes appear to be related to modifications in ocean circulation initiated during the last glacial period either by injections of fresh meltwater or huge ice discharges into the North Atlantic. When first detected, these rapid climate changes were characterized as episodes decoupled from any significant change in sea level. New data clearly show a direct connection between climate and sea level, and even more surprising, this link may extend to times of glacial-interglacial transitions and possibly also to interglacials. The full extent of this sea level/climate coupling is unknown and is the subject of current research.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic activities have emitted greenhouse gases that are changing climate patterns worldwide, with exacerbated trends in some areas (MedECC, 2020). Climate change consequences are already detectable in many oceanic regions(e.g., warming, acidification, deoxygenation), and they are projected to intensify, affecting marine resources and the livelihoods of the millions of people who rely on them.Consequently, a well-equipped, multidisciplinary coastal ocean observing system is needed to monitor long-term patterns of the physical, chemical, and biological features in seawater where the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems coexist. The scientific understanding gainedfrom such an observing system can be used to help managers and policymakers make informed decisions and tailor strategies and plans that would improve the resilience of coastal areas against climate change.Here, we describe two coastal time-series stations, one located in the Mediterranean Sea and the other in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, both in regions greatly impacted by climate change. Fil: Hernández Moresino, Rodrigo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Crespi Abril, Augusto Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Paparazzo, Flavio Emiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Barbieri, Elena Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Vázquez, Juan Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Carbajal, Juan Cruz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: de Cian, Antonella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Martelli, Antonela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina Fil: Pisoni, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos; Argentina

Despite an elevated mortality rate from lethal interactions with humans, the North Atlantic right whale population has continued to grow during the first decade of the new millennium. This unexpected population growth is the result of a 128% increase in female-specific reproduction relative to the 1990s. Here, we demonstrate that the recent increase in annual right whale calf production is linked to a dramatic increase in the abundance of its major prey, the copepod species Calanus finmarchicus, in the Gulf of Maine. The resurgence of C. finmarchicus was associated with a regime shift remotely forced by climatic changes in the Arctic. We conclude that decadal-scale variability in right whale reproduction may be largely driven by fluctuations in prey availability linked to climate-associated ecosystem regime shifts.

Over a period of less than a decade, ocean acidification—the change in seawater chemistry due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and subsequent impacts on marine life—has become one of the most critical and pressing issues facing the ocean research community and marine resource managers alike. The objective of this special issue of Oceanography is to provide an overview of the current scientific understanding of ocean acidification as well as to indicate the substantial gaps in our present knowledge. Papers in the special issue discuss the past, current, and future trends in seawater chemistry; highlight potential vulnerabilities to marine species, ecosystems, and marine resources to elevated CO2; and outline a roadmap toward future research directions. In this introductory article, we present a brief introduction on ocean acidification and some historical context for how it emerged so quickly and recently as a key research topic.