Environmental changes in the North Atlantic Region: SCANNET as a collaborative approach for documenting,...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Climate Change Research
• Ecology

Background:

• The North Atlantic Region (SCANNET Region) encompasses diverse climates and resources, supporting populations since the last ice age.
• This region significantly influences global climate and migratory species, facing rapid environmental and land-use changes.
• Limited historical data exists due to sparse populations, necessitating urgent monitoring of ongoing changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize findings from the SCANNET network regarding environmental change in the North Atlantic Region.
• To outline SCANNET's data resources to enhance awareness of environmental change.
• To identify knowledge gaps and the role of SCANNET infrastructure in future research and monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Established a network of 9 core and 5 local research sites across the SCANNET Region.
• Collected replicated climate observations across network sites.
• Focused intensive, site-specific observations on particular environmental and ecological subjects.

Main Results:

• SCANNET provides diverse expertise and subject coverage through its network structure.
• Climate observations are well-replicated, offering a robust dataset for the region.
• The network has generated valuable data on environmental changes, though specific findings are detailed within the full paper.

Conclusions:

• SCANNET is a vital EU-funded network facilitating research on global change impacts in the North Atlantic Region.
• The network's data and infrastructure are crucial for understanding and predicting environmental changes.
• Addressing identified knowledge gaps will be facilitated by SCANNET's ongoing monitoring and ground-truthing activities.