14:05 〜 14:20
[U05-02] Integrity of Biophysical Processes and the Great Geomorphological Acceleration in the Anthropocene
★Invited Papers
キーワード：Polar and High Mountain Environments, Biophysical Processes, Geomorphological Acceleration, Anthropocene
Integrity of Biophysical Processes and the Great Geomorphological Acceleration in the Anthropocene
In the Anthropocene, Polar and High Mountain Environments (PHME) are witnessing some of the most pervasive and swift changes in biophysical regimes. Examples include climate warming at nearly twice the global average in the Arctic; growing instability of massive ice sheets in the Antarctic; and rapid loss of glacial-and-snow cover widely reported from alpine regions across the planet. In addition, there has been a marked shift in the scale of certain geomorphic processes; especially anthropogenically caused denudation, which is also associated with changes in the PHME. While there have been several research efforts in recent years to quantify the scale and trajectory of these changes; a more qualitative understanding of how changes in such processes affect their integrity and pan out into biological and social domains is also necessary, but has remained relatively underexplored to date. Notable efforts towards this understanding can be found in works that seek to understand the ‘memory’ of glaciers, and how an amplified change in the Greenland Ice Sheet potentially outstrips Inuit capacity of co-evolving with the icescape. This paper provides a synthesis from several case reports across PHME and seeks to understand these trends in the light of the Anthropocene. It argues that side-by-side with the efforts to quantify these changes, a qualitative understanding of what they imply for the planetary environment in terms of a potentially no-analog scenario in the geological past (GTS) is both highly timely and imperative.
In the Anthropocene, Polar and High Mountain Environments (PHME) are witnessing some of the most pervasive and swift changes in biophysical regimes. Examples include climate warming at nearly twice the global average in the Arctic; growing instability of massive ice sheets in the Antarctic; and rapid loss of glacial-and-snow cover widely reported from alpine regions across the planet. In addition, there has been a marked shift in the scale of certain geomorphic processes; especially anthropogenically caused denudation, which is also associated with changes in the PHME. While there have been several research efforts in recent years to quantify the scale and trajectory of these changes; a more qualitative understanding of how changes in such processes affect their integrity and pan out into biological and social domains is also necessary, but has remained relatively underexplored to date. Notable efforts towards this understanding can be found in works that seek to understand the ‘memory’ of glaciers, and how an amplified change in the Greenland Ice Sheet potentially outstrips Inuit capacity of co-evolving with the icescape. This paper provides a synthesis from several case reports across PHME and seeks to understand these trends in the light of the Anthropocene. It argues that side-by-side with the efforts to quantify these changes, a qualitative understanding of what they imply for the planetary environment in terms of a potentially no-analog scenario in the geological past (GTS) is both highly timely and imperative.