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Connecting the Seas of Norden

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 89–92 (2015)Cite this article

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The Nordic Seas are highly sensitive to environmental change and have been extensively monitored and studied across a broad range of marine disciplines. For these reasons, the Nordic seas may serve as a pilot area for integrated policy development in response to ongoing climate change.

The northern high-latitude seas and their coastal waters are among the most sensitive to climate change on Earth. Salinity, temperature and oxygen gradients will become steeper, wind patterns will shift, and the rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 will continue to acidify the ocean. The critical question — not only for scientists across all disciplines, but also for policymakers and society in general — is how the combination of all these stressors will impact the interdependent ecosystems as well as the social systems within this region.

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Figure 1: The seas of Norden represent widely different water masses that are now undergoing far-reaching changes.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Bergen Marine Research Cluster, Prof. Keysersgate 8, Bergen, N-5020, Norway

    Øyvind Paasche

  2. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, Stockholm, SE-106 91, Sweden

    Henrik Österblom

  3. National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Allé 1, Charlottenlund, 2920, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Stefan Neuenfeldt & Keith Brander

  4. Department of Biosciences, Åbo Akademi University, Artillerigatan 6, Åbo, FI-20520, Finland

    Erik Bonsdorff & Joël M. Durant

  5. Department of Geology, University of Lund, Sölvegatan 12, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden

    Daniel J. Conley

  6. Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Blindern, N-0316, Oslo, Norway

    Joël M. Durant, Anne M. Eikeset, Olav S. Kjesbu & Nils Chr. Stenseth

  7. Princeton Environmental Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for BioComplexity, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    Anne M. Eikeset

  8. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Thormøhlensgt. 53 A, Bergen, N-5006, Norway

    Anders Goksøyr

  9. School of Business and Science, University of Akureyri, Borgir v/Norðurslóð, Akureyri, 600, Iceland

    Steingrímur Jónsson

  10. Marine Research Institute, Borgum, Akureyri, 600, Iceland

    Steingrímur Jónsson

  11. Institute of Marine Research and Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Nordnesgaten 50, Bergen, N-5005, Norway

    Olav S. Kjesbu

  12. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Niemenkatu 73, Helsinki, FI-15140, Finland

    Anna Kuparinen

  13. Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Marine Research Station, Nye Flødevigveien 20, N-4817, His, Norway

    Nils Chr. Stenseth

  14. Department of Natural Sciences, Centre for Coastal Research (CCR), University of Agder, Gimlemoen 25, Kristiansand, NO-4604, Norway

    Nils Chr. Stenseth

  15. Nordic Centre for Research on Marine Ecosystems and Resources under Climate Change (NorMER), Blindernveien 31, Oslo, N-0371, Norway

    Nils Chr. Stenseth

Authors
  1. Øyvind Paasche
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  2. Henrik Österblom
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  3. Stefan Neuenfeldt
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  4. Erik Bonsdorff
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  5. Keith Brander
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  6. Daniel J. Conley
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  7. Joël M. Durant
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  8. Anne M. Eikeset
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  9. Anders Goksøyr
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  10. Steingrímur Jónsson
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  11. Olav S. Kjesbu
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  12. Anna Kuparinen
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  13. Nils Chr. Stenseth
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Øyvind Paasche.

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Paasche, Ø., Österblom, H., Neuenfeldt, S. et al. Connecting the Seas of Norden. Nature Clim Change 5, 89–92 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2471

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