October 24, 2008 Albuquerque, New Mexico - In October, scientists reported that the fall temperatures in the Arctic broke all record highs – averaging 5 degrees Celsius above normal, which is 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal!
All that Arctic warming has caused the highest sea level rise on record. It doesn’t seem like a big number – only .254 centimeters a year – but it still means Arctic waters are rising as more and more ice melts from the warmer and warmer Arctic temperatures.
All the Arctic sea ice melt in 2008 was the second greatest since satellite measurements began in 1979. The volume of Arctic ice melt might be even more than 2007, which holds the number one spot for area of ice melt. That makes two years in a row of record-breaking Arctic ice melt.
The consequences so far are:
a) the decline of reindeer herds;
b) green shrubs are now moving into Arctic areas that used to be permafrost;
c) and the saltiness of the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic is being diluted by all the fresh ice water runoff. Less salt in the North Atlantic water means less density. Less density could slow down – or even stop – the North Atlantic Oscillation that brings warm equatorial waters to the North Atlantic. It’s that oscillation of warm water from the equator to the British Isles that helps keep the U. K. and Europe warmer. The reason the oscillation might stop is that less salty water is lighter and won’t sink as deeply and rapidly.
If the North Atlantic Oscillation stopped, the warmer waters would not reach the North Atlantic. So, in one of the great ironies of global warming, the faster the warming North Pole melts, the more likely temperatures will drop in the U. K. and Europe.
All that Arctic warming has caused the highest sea level rise on record. It doesn’t seem like a big number – only .254 centimeters a year – but it still means Arctic waters are rising as more and more ice melts from the warmer and warmer Arctic temperatures.
All the Arctic sea ice melt in 2008 was the second greatest since satellite measurements began in 1979. The volume of Arctic ice melt might be even more than 2007, which holds the number one spot for area of ice melt. That makes two years in a row of record-breaking Arctic ice melt.
The consequences so far are:
a) the decline of reindeer herds;
b) green shrubs are now moving into Arctic areas that used to be permafrost;
c) and the saltiness of the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic is being diluted by all the fresh ice water runoff. Less salt in the North Atlantic water means less density. Less density could slow down – or even stop – the North Atlantic Oscillation that brings warm equatorial waters to the North Atlantic. It’s that oscillation of warm water from the equator to the British Isles that helps keep the U. K. and Europe warmer. The reason the oscillation might stop is that less salty water is lighter and won’t sink as deeply and rapidly.
If the North Atlantic Oscillation stopped, the warmer waters would not reach the North Atlantic. So, in one of the great ironies of global warming, the faster the warming North Pole melts, the more likely temperatures will drop in the U. K. and Europe.
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