Climate change strips Arctic of much snow coverMay 5th, 2011 - 4:00 pm ICT by IANS
London, May 5 (IANS) Climate change is showing its ugly hand in the Arctic — a much reduced snow cover, shorter winters and thawing tundra.
And the changes are taking place significantly faster than previously thought, says new research from Lund University, Sweden.
Margareta Johansson, from Lund, who co-authored the study with Terry Callaghan of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, says: “The changes we see are dramatic. And they are not coincidental.”
Between 2003 and 2008, the melting of the Arctic icecap accounted for 40 percent of the global rise in sea level, according to a Lund statement.
The Arctic is one of global parts that is warming up fastest today. Measurements of air temperature show that the most recent five-year period has been the warmest since 1880, when monitoring began.
Other data, from tree rings among other things, show that the summer temperatures over the last decades have been the highest in 2000 years. As a consequence, the snow cover in May and June has decreased by close to 20 percent.
The winter season has also become almost two weeks shorter - in just a few decades.
Besides, the temperature in the permafrost has increased by between half a degree and two degrees.
“There is no indication that the permafrost will not continue to thaw,” says Johansson. Large quantities of carbon are stored in the permafrost.
“Our data shows that there is significantly more than previously thought. There is approximately double the amount of carbon in the permafrost as there is in the atmosphere today,” says Johansson.
The carbon comes from organic material which was “deep frozen” in the ground during the last ice age. As long as the ground is frozen, the carbon remains stable.
But as the permafrost thaws there is a risk that CO2 and methane, a greenhouse gas more than 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, will be released that could increase global warming.
The report was presented in Copenhagen this week.
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- Warming is causing Arctic to get greener - Jun 12, 2012
- Two thirds of permafrost likely to melt by 2200 - Feb 17, 2011
- 2010 tied for warmest year on record - Jan 13, 2011
- Alaska wildfire may impact climate - Jul 29, 2011
- Here's how the Arctic will look by the end of this century - Mar 04, 2011
- 66pc permafrost to melt by 2200, speed up global warming in coming years - Feb 17, 2011
- 2011 - 9th warmest year on record, says NASA - Jan 21, 2012
- Abrupt thaw in permafrost heightens climatic threat - Dec 04, 2011
- Permafrost likely to shrink in northern Sweden - Feb 21, 2009
- Arctic lands and oceans account for 25 percent of world's net sink of CO2 - Oct 15, 2009
- Arctic area, oceans lock up fourth of world's carbon dioxide - Oct 15, 2009
- Super-size deposits of frozen carbon in Arctic a growing threat to climate - Jul 01, 2009
- Proposed prototype ecosystem to test climate change effects on Arctic - Jun 26, 2010
- Greening Arctic unlikely to offset permafrost carbon release - May 28, 2009
Tags: air temperature, callaghan, carbon dioxide, climate change, global rise, greenhouse gas, last ice age, lund university sweden, margareta, methane, organic material, permafrost, royal swedish academy, royal swedish academy of sciences, sea level, snow cover, summer temperatures, tree rings, ugly hand, winter season