The Arctic Environmental Problems - New Ecoinformatics Tools in Environmental Science: Applications and Decision-making - page 575

the sea ice dynamics are taken into account. A thinner mixed layer favors the
strengthening of the wintertime sea ice, which causes a delay of the springtime
melting and produces a colder summer. The latest data of numerical modeling
has con

rmed, on the whole, by Kondratyev and Johannessen (1993),
Kondratyev (1990).

When discussing the problem of the role of the polar regions in the formation of
global changes, one should have in mind that two aspects of the global ecology are
of paramount importance:

(1) the anthropogenically induced redistribution of the components of the heat
balance of the Earth as a planet (with emphasis on the problem of the atmo-
spheric greenhouse effect and its climatic impact); and
(2) anthropogenically induced breaking of the global biogeochemical cycles
(primarily, this refers to carbon, nitrogen and sulfur).

c as a component of the globaleco-
system. These aspects are not taken into account completely by the existing global
models of the Nature/Society system. A new approach to the synthesis of geo-
information monitoring systems, proposed by (Krapivin and Shutko 2012), over-
comes this shortfall. In the framework of this approach the interchange of CO 2
between high latitude vegetation, the North Ocean and the atmosphere is considered
as part of a global biogeochemical cycle, described through the framework of a
Global Simulation Model (GSM) (Krapivin 1993). The GSM is comprised of
blocks that parameterize the following:

That is why polar regions are very speci

(1) the global hydrological balance;
(2) productivity of soil-plant formations, with 30 types de

ned;
(3) photosynthesis in the ocean ecosystems taking into account depth and surface
inhomogeneity;
(4) demographic processes; and
(5) anthropogenic changes.

The GSM makes it possible to compute the dynamics of industrial CO 2 distri-
bution between the oceans, terrestrial biota and the atmosphere. The GSM describes
the World Ocean by a spatial four-layer model with due regard for water chemistry.
Spatial heterogeneity of the World Ocean is represented by the structural distri-
bution of surface temperature applied to the upwelling and convergence zones. Sea
ice in the polar region is considered through use of CIESIN data (Yohe et al. 2006).
The biogeochemical cycle of CO 2 is described by balance equations in accordance
with Fig. 1.30 . The GSM carbon dioxide block takes into consideration the
dependence of

ows H 2 and H 3 from water surface processes (wind-wave mixing,
rough seas, foaming waves) (Alekseev et al. 1992; Weis et al. 1982). Simulation
experiments have shown that these

fl

flows have variations from 16 to 1,250 mol m − 2
year − 1 . In the Arctic Ocean during the June-September period the partial pressure p a
of CO 2 in the atmosphere exceeds the partial pressure of CO 2 in the sea waters by
20

fl

110 ppm. These variations in the partial pressure of CO 2 have speci c

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