§06§ §16§This revised edition describes the transformation of the environment and landscape of Western Sørkapp Land based on research data collected by Jagiellonian University scientific expeditions in the period 1980-1986 and in 2008. It also outlines potential directions of the transformation of Western Sørkapp Land.Western Sørkapp Land has been experiencing dramatic natural changes such as glacial recession, coastline retreat, emergence of new landforms and Quaternary deposits, as well as changes in the water drainage and network due to global warming. Western Sørkapp Land is a very remote and diverse region, which is representative of the European Arctic. The establishment of South Spitsbergen National Park has led to a regeneration of the local reindeer herd, which has caused overgrazing of the local tundra resulting in altered plant communities and soil erosion. They have also destroyed numerous bird nests. The transformation of Western Sørkapp Land is set to continue. §04§1 Introduction: Study Area and Its Environmental Recognition.- 2 Methods and materials.- 3 Components of natural environment.- 4 Environmental and landscape changes.- 5 Conclusions and prognosis for environmental change. §13§§"This slim volume (92 pages) reports on approximately 25 years§ §of landscape change in Sørkapp Land, the southern peninsula§ §of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard Archipelago.§ §Field research was conducted by a team of Polish scientists§ §from Jagiellonian University, the legacy of an initial visit to§ §the region by physical geographer Zdzislaw Czeppe during the§ §International Geophysical Year 1957-1958. His interest in the§ §research potential of the area was piqued, which led to a series§ §of interdisciplinary summer expeditions beginning in 1980. The§ §emphasis was on mapping abiotic and biotic features at a large§ §scale (1:25 000 - 1:50 000). This resulted in a baseline of§ §§spatially detailed data that another team was able to repeat in§§ §an effort to detect change after another quarter century had§ passed." (Bruce Forbes, Polar Record, Vol. 51, Issue 3, 2015 §13§)
