TY - JOUR N2 - An analysis of a suite of climatological indices was undertaken on the basis of long-term (1979–2019) climatological data from the Polish Polar Station in Hornsund, SW Spitsbergen. It was followed by an attempt to assess the scale of their impact on the local environment. The temperature and precipitation indices were based on percentiles of the variables calculated for a population of daily values from the climate normals for 1981–2010. A greater share of both cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations from the S and SW sectors, forcing the advection of warm air masses from the south, was decisive for the trends of change in comparison with the long-term mean. Both extreme precipitation and drought events depend on the 500 hPa geopotential height and precipitable water anomalies, determined by the baric field over the North Atlantic. Climate changes impact on the dynamics of local geoecosystems by causing faster glacier ablation and retreat, permafrost degradation, intensification of the hydrological cycle in glaciated and unglaciated catchments, and changes in the condition and growth of tundra vegetation. L1 - http://www.journals.pan.pl/Content/125649/PDF/2023-02-PPR-02.pdf L2 - http://www.journals.pan.pl/Content/125649 PY - 2023 IS - No 2 : Special Issue to celebrate 50 years anniversary of Stanislaw Baranowski Polar Station in Spitsbergen: Part 1 EP - 126 DO - 10.24425/ppr.2022.143316 KW - Arctic KW - Svalbard KW - climate change KW - climate variables KW - polar region A1 - Migała, Krzysztof A1 - Łepkowska, Elżbieta A1 - Osuch, Marzena A1 - Stachnik, Łukasz A1 - Wawrzyniak, Tomasz A1 - Ignatiuk, Dariusz A1 - Owczarek, Piotr PB - Polish Academy of Sciences PB - Committee on Polar Research VL - vol. 44 DA - 2022.12.30 T1 - Climate indices of environmental change in the High Arctic: Study from Hornsund, SW Spitsbergen, 1979–2019 SP - 91 UR - http://www.journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/125649 T2 - Polish Polar Research ER -