The Disappearing Snow and Ice Final Report

This workshop was organized and convened by MCM (Andrew Fountain) and PAL (Hugh
Ducklow). The purpose of the workshop was to examine the role of diminished snow and ice on
ecosystem structure and function and on ecosystem services across the diverse habitats found in
the LTER Network. The longer-term goal is to synthesize existing knowledge and mine
available data through follow up working groups (we will propose a session for the ASM). The
trends, rates and some causes of loss of the three principal cryosphere elements (snow, ice and
permafrost) are well-known. But the ecological and biogeochemical consequences of cryosphere
loss are not well-studied, particularly in a synthetic and comprehensive manner. The workshop
addressed all three thematic portfolios of the LTER Decadal Plan including land/water use
change; climate change; and nutrient mobilization.