The Arctic and the Third Pole-Himalayan region both exhibit important features of the cryosphere, one being the near-permanent presence of water in a frozen state. As temperatures in both regions are currently increasing rapidly, frozen ground is thawing apace, and several indicators are at the tipping point. Changes in the cryosphere will have major impacts on ecosystems and local communities as well as lead to larger-scale changes.
In the Himalayas, the melting of glaciers and changes in the snowpack will have a significant impact on the provision of water to a quarter of humanity. The melting of the cryosphere in the Arctic will contribute significantly to global sea level rise, affecting the 10% of humanity who live in areas 10 m or less above sea level. Rising seas will also undermine global trade as docks and other infrastructure are impacted.
Work delving deeper into the link between cryosphere thaw and climate change marks a crucial step forward in polar science. Regrettably, to date the Arctic and Third Pole have almost always been considered separately. Indeed, the scholarship as it stands demonstrates little knowledge about the commonalities and links between the regions. Mindful of this shortcoming, the proposed volume intends to explore the interconnectedness between the two regions from an interdisciplinary perspective. Particularly salient would be contributions analysing the effects of and responses to ongoing and imminent changes in (geo-)political, socio-cultural, environmental and legal perspective.
Contributions include may be academic articles, review papers, popularized accounts of research findings, summaries of research or other projects initiated, conference or seminar reports, analyses of news stories, or comparable work focusing on the special theme.
The publication is non-peer-reviewed but considered scientific. It is an open-access publication. The length of a contribution may not exceed 3000 words, including citations and references. Plans call for releasing the volume in December 2023.
Please send your contributions to Kamrul Hossain at khossain@ulapland.fi
Deadline: 10 November 2023.