The prospect of global climatic change has fueled the need to improve our understanding of many atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial processes.  It has forced us to recognize the fact that most of these processes are interactive and that we must understand the linkages between them.  Especially in the Arctic, many of these linkages have feedback effects that can greatly magnify their total impact upon the climatic system.  The annual radiation balance in the Arctic yields a net loss in energy which is compensated by energy advected from warmer regions to the South.  Thus the Arctic serves as a sink for excess energy radiated on more temperate regions.  In order to improve our understanding of the role of the Arctic in the global hydrologic and energy budget, we must develop a more dynamic view of the terrestrial, aquatic, oceanic and atmospheric processes and their linkages.  We now need projection of the impact of changing climates upon terrestrial and atmospheric processes in order to further define climatic feedbacks.  Terrestrial and marine productivity, nutrient and sediment fluxes, thermal processes, hydrologic processes and sea-ice history can be investigated from a historical perspective.  Unless a better understanding of the response to changing climate and subsequent changes in the major atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns is developed, accurate simulation of previous or future climatic conditions will not be possible.  Therefore, it is necessary and timely to understand the coupled dynamic atmospheric, terrestrial and oceanic processes and their effect on global climate.  It is reasonable to expect, as permafrost degrades, for most regions, soils will become drier, creating a feedback process that will influence evaporation and precipitation.