Tag: climate research

Arctic Warming Especially Strong During Winter Months

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

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The Arctic region is warming at least double as fast as the rest of the world, releasing additional greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into Earth´s atmosphere, changing weather patterns all over the world, and causing sea levels to rise. What is the reason behind Arctic warming being faster during winter months? How can this be explained?

According to Nature.com – The changing seasonal climate in the Arctic, Arctic winter warming, abbreviated as AWW, can be multiplied with four in comparison to the Arctic summer warming, whereby most of the warming occurs on the surfaces in the Arctic which is an especially powerful feature during the Arctic winter months.

Bintanja, R. & van der Linden, E.C. (Scientific Reports 3. Article number 1556; 2013) results indicate three main reasons for the Arctic winter warming being stronger than the warming during the Arctic summer months; 1) variations in seasonal greenhouse forcings; 2) Arctic “local amplifying feedback” displays seasonal variations i.e. is magnified; 3) “physical limits may constrain temperature changes” suggesting that Arctic summers would warm faster if temperatures were not near melting.

NSIDC  discusses the importance of scientists work to study feedbacks taking place in the Arctic in order to understand the Arctic amplification and the climatic changes while NOAA suspects that there is no return back to the old Arctic. Although research from the past decades shows that the current overall warming in the Arctic region is due to human activity, it is yet largely unknown exactly how significant the constant changes and the warming of the climate in the Arctic region will be in near and in distant future. Collecting data, measuring and tracking changes and even small variations on a constant basis is thus necessary for scientists to understand how and why changes occur, and what kind of effect these changes will have upon the climate a) in the Arctic region and b) in other parts of the world.

Learn more by watching EarthNow´s video “Effects of Arctic Amplification”:

 

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys. For climate/environment-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank. Subscribe to Leading With Passion to receive my latest posts.

 

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Arctic Ecosystems Are Under Threat

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

Arctic (16)

The Arctic Council with its eight member countries USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland, is one of many organizations dedicated to protecting and speaking up for the Arctic region. Other well-known, official organizations protecting and conducting research upon the Arctic region include Greenpeace, WWF, The Arctic Institute, NRDC, Alaska Conservation Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Earthjustice and Polar Bears International, just to name a few.

What these organizations all have in common is their concern for the Arctic region, including conservation, protection and significant research upon the Arctic region. One major publication was published in 2005 with the Arctic Council initiating a research project whereby an international team of more than 300 scientists and experts shared their knowledge and created the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. (ACIA, 2005. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Cambridge University Press, 1042p. http://www.acia.uaf.edu).

ACIA is a comprehensive report upon the Arctic region and its climate, including basically everything about the Arctic region´s climate historically and contemporary, analyzing and evaluating the future of the Arctic region through models and scenarios. AMAP (The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme), which is one of the Arctic Council´s working groups, also provides a number of publicly available research reports on their website.

Arctic climate change is real, and it is faster than elsewhere on our planet. Evidence of this speaks for itself, and has been assessed through numerous research projects by the world´s leading organizations dedicated to the conservation and protection of the Arctic region, some of which have been mentioned in this article. With the Arctic region having a unique and fragile ecosystem, its conservation and protection is essential to protect our whole planet from the partly yet unknown consequences of continued warming in global average temperatures, which, as stated and signed in the Paris Agreement, have to be taken seriously, since even slight increases in global average temperatures can have catastrophic impacts upon Earth and all life on this planet.

Learn more about the fragile and vulnerable Arctic region´s ecosystem by watching Polar Bears International´s video “The Arctic Ecosystem: Tundra Connections Webcast with NWF”:

 

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys. For climate/environment-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank. Subscribe to Leading With Passion to receive my latest posts.

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