"Warming of the Artic" in the 1920s - 1940s: Influence on Marine Environment and Resources, and on the Soviet Understanding of Climate Change

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The arctic climate is currently changing faster than the climate of the planet; this phenomenon is known as ‘Arctic amplification.’  However, even before the beginning of the anthropogenic global climate change, the Arctic climate was quite changeable. The observations of the rapid warming of the Arctic caused by natural factors in the 1920s-1940s led scientists to acknowledge the possibility of short-term changes of the climate in general. This talk, on the one hand, illustrates climate as a driver for changes in abundance and migrations patterns of fish species important for the ecosystems of these seas and for the economy. On the other hand, the talk focuses on Russian scientists and their international networks, through which new knowledge on the changes of Arctic climate circulated. In addition, the legacy of this period for the Soviet / Russian climate science is discussed.

 

Julia Lajus received her degree in the history of science (the Russian equivalent of Ph.D. degree) from the Institute for the History of Science and Technology in Moscow in 2004 with a dissertation devoted to the history of relations between fisheries science and fisheries in the European North of Russia/Soviet Union. She is now working on a book manuscript, “Linking People through Fish, Climate and Environment: Transnational Connections of Russian/Soviet Science and Their Mediators,“ which explores encounters between international and national interests at governmental, institutional and individual levels, in which all parties needed to craft strategies for successful scientific cooperation.