The Arctic is warming much faster than scientists had predicted, according to a new study in Finland.
Previously, they thought it was heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world. But now, a long-term study by the Finnish Meteorological Institute says the Arctic actually is heating up four times as fast. “Temperatures are rising faster in the Arctic region than globally,” said Mika Rantanen, the author of the study.
In fact, some areas are heating at a much faster rate. Some parts of the Barents Sea above Norway and Russia are heating up seven times faster, the study found. As a result, the ice sheet in Greenland is melting faster than had been predicted, adding to the rise in sea level.
The problem is that heating in the Arctic creates a feedback loop. Warming there melts sea ice in the region, which exposes more of the Arctic Ocean to sunlight, which leads to more warming, which results in more melting in ice fields.
The new study looked a data from 1979, when temperature estimates were available from orbiting satellites.
Other research backs up the Finnish study. Thomas Ballinger, a researcher at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, is the author of NOAA’s annual Arctic Report Card. He says the area is being overwhelmed by rising temperatures. As a result, he says, the fundamental climate there is characterized by water, rather than by ice, with profound effects.
Sailing routes that once were choked by ice are opening up, Ballinger says, which is good for global commerce and exploration. But that openness brings the environmental risks of ocean shipping to the Arctic’s once-pristine waters. Also, more shorelines are eroding and more permafrost is thawing. Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/climate/arctic-global-warming.html and see a video of NOAA’s latest Arctic Report Card below:
