Navigation
Mission
2007
Website
Mission
2007 Forum
Team 4
Website
e
|
My group (Team 4) is assigned to evaluate the exploration and
production strategy with reference to environmental impact. The
collective strategy of our team for research is to contact alumni
mentors and
get in touch with students from Teams 2 and 3 to get an idea of the
information they are looking into.
Personal Aims and Objectives:
-update website on a weekly bases
-meet weekly targets for research
-analyze different alternatives and matching scenarios to ANWR
10/21/03
n evaluation of the environmental impact of the Exploration and
Production strategy would involve knowledge of not only the methods for
exploration and production of oil but also of the ANWR ecosystem
. As a part of Team 4, I have decided to work with and collect
information regarding the ANWR ecosystem and to come up with a
classification that would aid our analysis in the coming week.
In the last time meeting, a few parameters had been set up for
classifying the ecosystem. They are as follows:
___________________________________________________
* ABIOTIC
->Structure
(1) Atmosphere
(2) Soil
(3) Water
Each of these categories can be further divided into:
-Energy
-Chemistry
-Dynamics
* BIOTIC
-> Flora
-> Fauna
(1) Species
(2) Behavior
____________________________________________________
Generally the geography of the ANWR region can be subdivided into:
*coastal lagoons
*barrier islands
*artctic tundra
*foothills
*mountains
*boreal forests
Alternatively ANWR could be classified with respect to:
(1)Climatology
One should take into account some of the factors/ variables the
arctic region is sensitive to. For example:
(1) There is large temperature change over marginal ice zone and shelf
areas , which causes reduced ice thickness.
(2)Ozone loss takes place in the mid latitudes and the role of the
Arctic polar vortex
(3)Solar irradiance - there are decreasing amounts of global
irradiatnce reaching the surface of the Arctic.
There is no simple division as such, since there are many important,
complex and climate feedback mechanisms that involve polar regaions
such as ANWR. For example global changes in the concentration of
radiatively active gases causes changes in the radioactive exchange at
the surface and in the atmosphere which may eventually be modified by
polluted air eaching the Arctic from industrial areas in the Northern
Hemisphere.
(2)Glaciology
(3)Geology
The physical models that can be specifically researched are those of
the:
-atmosphere (part of climatology research)
-land surface
-oceans
-sea ice
______________________________________________________
It is difficult to predict the exact and dirrect environmental impacts
caused by exploration and the production of oil in the ANWR region,
which is a part of the Arctic-terrestrial ecosystem, because of the
interactions within the Ecosystem and between the changing
environmental variables. The environmental conditions that cause
changes in levels of precipitation, the length of the growing season,
cloudiness and UV-B radiation levels are different for specified
regions in the Arctic It is the combination of natural environmental
changes and anthroprogenic stresses which now present threats to the
terrestrial arctic ecosystems.
Environmental characteristics of
the ANWR ecosystem
Stress
-Despite the long, dark and cold winters due to which
water required for life forms is in solid state, organisms have a
tendency to adjust.
-Variation in precipitation and soil moisture that could lead to
extremes of flood and anaerobic conditions or drought in the summer,
are also a part of the temperature differentials that determine the
survival of flora and fauna. On the other hand permafrost dynamics
determines soil moisture for plants, soil microbes and invertebrates.
Disturbance and mechanical
impacts
-Permafrost dynamics.
-Freeze thaw cycles in soil and rock, which produces patterning in
different landscapes and hence disrupts plant communities and soil
fauna when ice grows.
-Water erosion that occurs during permanent degradation, which
results in the removal of soil and organic matter.
-Wind erosion , erodes substrate and plants through ice crystal
abraision.
Snowcover
-Limits length of active period for plants.
-Offers benign environment for plants, invertebrate and winter active
herbivoures beneath the snow cover.
(The following categories will be sustantiated and the information
shall be posted on the webpage over the weekend)
Biotic characteristics
-Growth and life cycle strategies for plants
-Characteristics of Arctic Animals
-Biodiversity
-Population dynamics
Responses of the biota to
environmental change
-Responses of organisms
-Impllications of climatic change for interactions between soil
microbes and plants
-Implicaitons for interactions between plants and animals
-Changes in distribution of organisms and communities
Feedback from Arctic terrestiral
ecosystems (applicable to ANWR) to global environmental change
-Carbon stocks, trace gas fluxes
-Carbon-siock source relationships
-Albedo
Back
to top
|