According to a study carried out with satellite data by a team of researchers based in Norway and Finland and published Thursday in the scientific journal Communications Earth & Environment of the Nature group, the Arctic has warmed almost four times faster than the rest. of the planet over the past 40 years.
Figures revised significantly upwards concerning the rate of warming of the region around the North Pole, so far estimated to be two to three times faster than the rest of the globe.
In 2019, the United Nations Panel of Climate Experts (IPCC) estimated that the Arctic was warming "more than twice the global average", as a result of a specific process in the region.
This phenomenon, called "Arctic amplification", occurs when sea ice and snow, which naturally reflect the sun's heat, melt into seawater which absorbs more solar radiation and heats up.
Significant local variations
In this new study, the researchers analyzed four sets of temperature data collected across the entire Arctic Circle by satellites since 1979 – the year satellite data first became available.
They concluded that the Arctic has warmed an average of 0.75°C per decade, almost four times faster than the rest of the planet.
Since the pre-industrial era, the planet has gained nearly 1.2°C, due to greenhouse gases generated mainly by fossil fuels.
However, Finnish and Norwegian researchers have found large local variations in the rate of warming within the Arctic Circle.
Thus, the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean, near the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and the Russian one of Novaya Zemlya, has warmed by 1.25°C per decade, i.e. about seven times faster than the rest of the world.
Global repercussions
The team found that the most advanced climate models predicted Arctic warming about a third less than their own data show.
This discrepancy, according to them, could be explained by the obsolescence of previous models of the Arctic climate, which are constantly being improved.
The intense warming of the Arctic, in addition to a serious impact on the inhabitants and on the local fauna, will also have global repercussions.
"Climate change is man-made and as the Arctic warms, its glaciers will melt, which will affect global sea levels," Antti Lipponen, a member of the AFP, told AFP. Finnish Institute of Meteorology and co-author of the study.
“Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all,” he worries.
