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The Arctic is getting worse: this is how global warming affects it

2021-12-15T08:04:15.551Z


The Arctic region showed clear symptoms of a sick planet during the past year. From massive thaws to beaver invasions, here's the bottom line.


More rain than snow, the new trend in Greenland 0:46

(CNN) -

From extreme thaw events to the influx of beaver colonies in Alaska, to the first time rain was recorded atop Greenland, the Arctic region showed clear symptoms of a sick planet over the past year. .

A report released Tuesday, which serves as a sort of annual physical exam of the Arctic, revealed that this vast and significant biome is profoundly changing.

It continues to warm twice as fast as the rest of the Earth and is rapidly losing the ice sheet, turning from a confidently icy landscape to one more green and brown than a decade ago.

  • This year it rained for the first time on the Greenland summit.

    And this is going to happen more often, according to a study

More than 100 scientists have written the report on the Arctic, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English), and have studied changes in the snow cover, ice volume and vegetation of the tundra, as well as surface air and ocean temperatures between October 2020 and September 2021.

Glacier retreat

The report also describes an increase in commercial activities and ships moving further into the Arctic on sea lanes opened by the thaw.

Ships carry more garbage and noise to the region, changing its soundscape and interfering with the communication capacity of marine mammals.

Retreating glaciers and melting permafrost also threaten lives, economies and infrastructure.

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Arctic Ocean began to warm decades earlier than expected 0:55

"If we recognize that the Arctic really is the gateway to climate change, and that we need some means of regularly taking the pulse of how things are in that critical zone, the report card represents, if you will, a kind of snapshot "NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad told CNN.

"That's why it's important, just like going to the doctor for an annual physical," he added.

Everything is connected

This summer, the Greenland ice sheet experienced three extreme thaws in the period studied, according to the report.

For people who live far from the Arctic and may think the region is a bit far away, Twila Moon, senior writer on the report and a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, explains that everything is connected, especially when it comes to the thaw.

As the Greenland ice sheet thaws, that loss of ice causes sea level rise, which can be felt strongly in places far from the Arctic, such as low-lying Pacific islands and coastal cities.

These impacts can lead to coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion into drinking freshwater resources, as well as disruptions to sewage and water systems.

In addition, the thawing of the Arctic permafrost is also releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, further exacerbating global warming.


The report shows "how these cascading disturbances are not isolated in one place and can influence other parts of the system," Moon told CNN.

"We now live in a fundamentally different time than in the past and we will experience continual change in the future."

NASA Reveals Crude Arctic Thaw Report 0:37

Beavers, boats, and permafrost hazards

The NOAA report also found, from satellite images and other data, that North American beavers are taking over the Arctic tundra of Alaska, where they have doubled their ponds in the past two decades.

Scientists are also mapping beaver ponds in Canada and Asia.

That's a problem because beavers gnaw and fell trees, and they build dams that can flood valleys and form new lakes that contribute to the thawing of frozen permafrost soil.

When permafrost melts, it emits large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.

Both declining sea ice and changing marine habitats are also causing an increase in maritime traffic in the Arctic.

Increased human activity, along with the environmental changes it brings, is dramatically altering the seascape soundscape, according to the report.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-12-15

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