Meet the editors

Dr. Masaki Kanao obtained his PhD from Kyoto University. He is currently working at the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, Japan. He is chiefly interested in Earth's structure and dynamics from geoscience studies. Polar regions, both in the Arctic and Antarctic, have been investigated by using seismological and geophysical approaches. Recently, interdisciplinary studies regarding glacial earthquakes and cryoseismic events

in polar regions, particularly around Greenland, have been focusing on involving environmental changes associated with global warming, which is now ongoing in the Arctic. These field-based investigations in polar regions have been contributing to the development of all kinds of Earth sciences from global viewpoints.

Dr. Yoshihiro Kakinami obtained his PhD from Hokkaido University. He is currently working at Hokkaido Information University in Hokkaido, Japan. He is mainly interested in the dynamics of the upper atmosphere. Recently, he has been especially interested in the interaction between solid earth and the atmosphere. Particularly, he investigates the response of the ionosphere and thermosphere triggered by earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic

eruptions. He is also developing an early warning system for tsunamis by using infrasound emitting from the tsunami source region.

Dr. Genti Toyokuni is an assistant professor at the Department of Geophysics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. He received his BSc (2004), MSc (2006), and DSc (2009) from Kyushu University, Japan. He was a part-time teacher of Earth science at the National Institute of Technology, Kurume College, Japan, during 2007–2009, and a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan, during 2009–2011. His research interests

include polar seismology (cryoseismology), seismic waveform analysis, numerical modeling of seismic wave propagation, and seismic tomography. He is a member of the Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN), and has been participating in the field observation of the Greenland ice sheet every year since 2011 with other US and Japanese GLISN members.

Contents

*by Masaki Kanao*

*and N. Lebedev*

*and Natalia Kapustyan*

*by Natalia K. Belisheva*

*by Violetta Gassiy*

Environmental Perspective

Oceanographic Observations

Wave Action, and Permafrost Melting

**Preface III**

**Chapter 1 1**

**Chapter 2 5** Changes in Arctic Ocean Climate Evinced through Analysis of IPY 2007–2008

**Chapter 3 25**

**Chapter 4 39**

**Chapter 5 55**

**Chapter 6 71**

The Effect of Space Weather on Human Body at the Spitsbergen Archipelago

Indigenous Communities in the Arctic Change in Socio-Economic and

*by J.N. Stroh, S. Kirillov, G. Panteleev, O. Francis, M. Yaremchuk, E. Bloshkina* 

Coastal Erosion Due to Decreased Ice Coverage, Associated Increased

*by Dimitrios Kostopoulos, Efrat Yitzhak and Ove T. Gudmestad*

Recent Geodynamics and Seismicity of the European Arctic *by Evgeniy Rogozhin, Galina Antonovskaya, Irina Basakina* 

Introductory Chapter: Arctic Studies - A Proxy for Climate Change
