The Arctic is considered a climate change hotspot. The rapid loss of ice can cause sea levels to rise about six meters.
Nowhere on the planet is climate change progressing as rapidly as in the Arctic. The north polar region is warming much faster than the rest of the world, as illustrated by the decline in Arctic ice masses documented for decades. According to a recent study, however, the extent of warming in northern latitudes was still significantly underestimated.
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According to a new study, the temperature in the Arctic has risen nearly four times faster than the global average over the past 40 years. As reported by Communications Earth & Environment magazine, the Arctic is warming 0.75 degrees per decade. Previous climate models assumed a much slower rise in temperature.
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The reason for the rapid loss of ice and snow is a phenomenon called “polar amplification”. When ice and snow, which normally reflect sunlight, melt into seawater, there is an amplifying effect, as dark water absorbs heat from sunlight. Thus, the progressive loss of ice itself increasingly fuels the warming.
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Sea level could rise six meters
Scientists from Norway and Finland have now examined four sets of temperature data that have been collected by satellite in the Arctic since 1979. They have found that warming is progressing faster than previously thought. The results were “somewhat surprising” because they were much larger than previous data, said co-author Antti Lipponen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the APA reported. He advocated putting climate models to the test and recalculating them.
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The strong warming of the Arctic has global consequences. In particular, scientists warn of a melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which could result in a sea level rise of about six meters. “Climate change is man-made,” Lipponen said. “Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all.”
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