Friday, March 29

NOAA: Arctic Just Had Second Hottest Year Ever; Temperatures Rising, Sea Ice Melting

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The Arctic just had its second hottest year on record in 2017, falling behind the record set in 2016. This is the sobering conclusion of the annual scientific assessment of the Arctic from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  The warming trend is inescapable; temperatures for the past five years have been higher than for all previous years, going back to 1900.

At the same time, sea ice is melting at a faster rate than any time in the past 1,500 years, while the Arctic has continued to warm at twice the global average. In the past three decades, the oldest and thickest sea ice has declined by 95 percent, leaving the sea at the top of the world changed forever, with implications not only for such creatures as walruses and polar bears, but also for human beings as a result of global warming.

“These changes will impact all our lives,” said Jeremy Mathis, director of the Arctic program at NOAA. “They will mean living with more extreme weather events, paying higher food prices and dealing with the impacts of climate refugees.”

In other findings, NOAA reported that hotter air temperatures are causing a loss of snow cover and melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, while herds of caribou and reindeer across the Arctic tundra have declined by 50 percent in the past two decades.

The assessment’s findings have implications far beyond the Arctic itself. Timothy Gallaudet, a retired Navy admiral who is the acting NOAA administrator, said the findings were important because “unlike Las Vegas, what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.” Read more:

dhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/12/11/arctic-is-even-worse-shape-than-you-realize/?utm_term=.b75062ab9c6d

https://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card

 

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