The Arctic Environmental Problems - New Ecoinformatics Tools in Environmental Science: Applications and Decision-making - page 510

similar to that of predictions based on data collected in the same site where NEE
is predicted. The principal requirement for the dataset is that it should contain a
suf

ciently wide range of measurements of NEE at both high and low values of
LAI, air temperature and PAR, to properly constrain the estimates of model
parameters. Canopy N content can also be substituted for leaf area in predicting
NEE, with equal or greater accuracy, but substitution of soil temperature for air
temperature does not improve predictions.

Riseborough et al. (2008) provides a review of permafrost modelling advances,
primarily since the 2003 permafrost conference in Z rich, Switzerland, with an

emphasis on spatial permafrost models, in both arctic and high mountain envi-
ronments. Models are categorized according to temporal, thermal and spatial cri-
teria, and their approach to de

ü

ning the relationship between climate, site surface
conditions and permafrost status. The most signi cant recent advances include the

expanding application of permafrost thermal models within spatial models, appli-
cation of transient numerical thermal models within spatial models and incorpo-
ration of permafrost directly within global circulation model (GCM) land surface
schemes. Future challenges for permafrost modeling will include establishing the
appropriate level of integration required for accurate simulation of permafrost-
climate interaction within GCMs, the integration of environmental changes such as
tree line migration into permafrost response to climate change projections, and
parameterizing the effects of sub-grid scale variability in surface processes and
properties on small-scale (large area) spatial models.
The purpose of this chapter is to develop and to investigate a simulation model
of the pollution dynamics in the Arctic Basin. There are many experimental and
theoretical results giving estimates of the growing dependencies between the pol-
lution dynamics in the World Ocean and the state of the continental environment.
The problem of the Arctic Basin pollution causes the most anxiety to investigators
(Krapivin and Phillips 2001b; Bobylev et al. 2003). It is known that the ecosystems
of the Arctic seas are vulnerable to a considerable extent in comparison with the
ecosystems of other seas. Processes that clean the Arctic Ocean are slower and
marine organisms of the Arctic ecosystem live in the polar climate, where the
vegetation period is restricted. Some feedback mechanisms operate with signi cant

time delays and the capacity to neutralize the effects of human activity is feeble.
Apart from these reasons, the Arctic ecosystem has speci

c boundary conditions
connected with the sea-ice ergocline, which reduce its survivability level.
In connection with this circumstances, the Arctic Basin is the object for inves-
tigations in the frameworks of many national and international environmental
programs, such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, U.S. Global
Change Research, the International Arctic System Science program (ARCSS),
(McCauley and Meier 1991; ARCSS 2003), the U.S. Arctic Nuclear Waste
Assessment Program (ANWAP) and the International Arctic Monitoring and
Assessment Program (AMAP). The research strategies of these programs include
the theoretical and experimental study of the tundra ecosystems, Siberian rivers and
near-shore and open arctic waters. The main problems arising here consist of