Vegetation indices quantify the concentrations of green leaf vegetation (chlorophyll)around the globe, in an attempt to monitor and correlate vegetation health and stress. The MODIS vegetation products include the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)and an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). Included in the MOD13C1 product is both NDVIand EVI, so both have been provided for the CAFF Dedicated Pan-Arctic Satellite RemoteSensing Products and Distribution System. These indices come in a variety of resolutions,but MTRI has provided a monthly global composite on a 0.05° Climate Model GRID(CMG).

The two species of murres, thick-billed Uria lomvia and common U. aalge, both have circumpolar distributions, breeding in Arctic, sub-Arctic and temperate seas from alifornia and N Spain to N Greenland, high Arctic Canada, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya (Box 4.3 Fig. 1). Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, CAFF 2013 - Akureyri . Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Status and Trends in Arctic biodiversity. - Birds(Chapter 4) page 163

The Land Cover Dynamics MODIS product is a yearly product that represents thetiming of vegetation phenology globally. Sub-datasets include vegetation growth, maturity,senescence, and dormancy. This product also includes the NBAR-(Nadir Bidirectionalreflectance distribution function (BRDF) adjusted Reflectance) based EVI, in part becausethe EVI is used to create the Land Cover Dynamics. The Land Cover Dynamics product uses both Terra and Aqua MODIS data. Version005 (provided) has a 500 m spatial resolution, which is an improvement from the 1,000 mversion 004 product. This product is only available in MODIS tiles, so the tiles needed tocover the CAFF pan-Arctic region has been downloaded but not clipped to the pan-Arcticextent at this time.

The number of species depends partly on what has been studied. Proportions vary somewhat around the Arctic, but diatoms and dinoflagellates are the most diverse groups everywhere. The greatest sampling effort has been in the Laptev Sea, Hudson Bay, and the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. Species shown are among the most commonly recorded. Published in the Life Linked to Ice released in 2013, page 26. Life Linked to Ice: A guide to sea-ice-associated biodiversity in this time of rapid change. CAFF Assessment Series No. 10. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Iceland. ISBN: 978-9935-431-25-7.

Locations of sub-Arctic and Arctic shipping accidents and incident causes, 1995-2004 (source: Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009). Published in the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) released in 2014.

Summary of Arctic vascular plant species and distribution by Arctic flora province and subzone based on Elven (2007). Arctic floristic provinces, subzones (A-E), neighbouring boreal or boreal-alpine zone (N) and distribution derived from Elven (2007). Arctic Biodiversity Assessment - Table 9.1 Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, CAFF 2013 - Akureyri . Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Status and Trends in Arctic biodiversity. - Plants(Chapter 9) page 321

The MODIS Sea Surface Temperature (SST) product provided is a 4km spatialresolution monthly composite made from nighttime measurements from the Aqua Satellite.The nighttime measurements are used to collect a consistent temperature measurement that isunaffected by the warming of the top layer of water by the sun.

Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) is a measurement of the absorption of light in the UV and visible spectrum by the colored components of dissolved organic carbon. It is essentially the yellow substance in water as a result of decaying detritus. It is important to measure because it limits the amount of sunlight penetration, and thus restricts the growth of plankton populations. It is measured in a unit-less CDOM index. Data generated as part of CAFFs Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CAFF) and its Land Cover Change Initiative (LCC) Trends visible in the MODIS dataset show an overall decrease in the mean CDOM from 2003 to 2012, with a percent change of -31.7%. This trend can be seen in Figure 40. This decrease corresponds to the increase in total yearly primary productivity (Figure 30), as a decrease in the CDOM allows for sunlight to penetrate deeper into the water, boosting chlorophyll concentrations and thus primary productivity.

The MODIS Land Cover Type product is created yearly using three landclassification schemes; the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP)classification scheme, the Univertiy of Maryland (UMD) classification scheme, and aMODIS-derived Leaf Area Index /Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation(LAI/fPAR) classification scheme (Table 3). The International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) identifies seventeenland cover classes, including eleven natural vegetation classes, three non-vegetated landclasses, and three developed land classes. The product provided is derived using the samealgorithm as the 500 m Land Cover Type (MOD12Q1), but is on a 0.05° Climate Model Grid(CMG), that has been clipped to the pan-Arctic extent. The UMD classification scheme issimilar to the IGBP classification scheme, but it excludes the Permanent wetlands,Cropland/Natural vegetation mosaic, and the Snow and ice classes. The LAI/fPARclassification scheme is the smallest of the three, and focuses on forest structure; it only haseleven classes. All three land cover classification schemes are provided, but the IGBPclassification scheme is the most amenable to the Pan-Arctic region.

Breeding and wintering range of common eiders Somateria mollissima in the circumpolar region (not all southern breeding areas included).The common eider Somateria mollissima has a circumpolar distribution breeding mainly on small islands in Arctic and boreal marine areas in Alaska (Bering Sea region), Canada, Greenland, Iceland, N Europe and the Barents Sea region. In mainland Russia, there is a gap in distribution from the Yugorski Peninsula (Kara Sea) to Chaunskaya Bay in E Siberia Important wintering areas include the Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea/Aleutian region, SE Canada, SW Greenland, Iceland and NW Europe. Six or seven subspecies are recognized, of which four occur in North America. - <a href="http://arcticbiodiversity.is/the-report/chapters/birds" target="_blank">Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Status and Trends in Arctic biodiversity. - Birds(Chapter 4) page 150</a>