The Nordic Seas: An integrated perspective

The world’s largest positive temperature deviation from zonal mean temperatures lies within the realm of the Nordic Seas, comprising bodies of water variously referred to as the Norwegian Sea, the Iceland Sea, and the Greenland Sea. Its role as a mixing cauldron for waters entering from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans, and its function as a major source of deep and abyss water make our understanding of the Nordic Seas a crucial element in advancing the knowledge of climate dynamics in the Northern Hemisphere. The current book assesses the region’s present and future response to, and influence on, global climate change

The motivation for producing the current monograph is two-fold. On the one hand the climate sciences, due to advancements methodology and societal concerns about climate change, have been advancing rapidly during the last 20 years. An updated account of the progress on understanding the climate system in the region is therefore of special urgency. In that respect, this monograph marks the beginning of an era driven by a truly interdisciplinary effort where classical oceanography, meteorology, palaeoclimatology, biogeochemistry, and numerical modeling are bridged to obtain knowledge that would be impossible based on those disciplines alone. On the other hand, this monograph involves historical continuity: sustaining the tradition of compiling available knowledge about the Nordic Seas climate system, the earliest records of which date as far back as the early 13th century.

The Nordic Seas realm, located between polar and extratropical climate regimes, is expected to be particularly vulnerable to global warming. In this regard, The Nordic Seas: An Integrated Perspective provides a comprehensive and multidisciplinary description of the past and present climate states of the area, the growing realization of the importance of the Nordic Seas in the global climate system, and consideration of how the local climate may respond to global warming. Although the monograph does not address how climate changes may impact societies and resources in the region, it will nevertheless provide essential background knowledge for such an assessment. The present compilation will be of particular importance for policy makers and governmental bodies to ensure scientifically based knowledge for assessing issues related to human induced global and regional climate change, and for conducting optimal timing and scaling of mitigation and adaptation strategies.