The Arctic is heating up to 7 times faster than the global average

The Arctic is heating up to 7 times faster than the global average according to new research published in Scientific Reports. The heating is occurring in the North Barents Sea, a region where fast-rising temperatures are suspected to trigger increases in extreme weather in North America, Europe, and Asia. The researchers said the heating in this region was an “early warning” of what could happen across the rest of the Arctic. The new figures show annual average temperatures in the area are rising across the year by up to 2.7C a decade, with particularly high rises in the months of autumn of up to 4C a decade. This makes the North Barents Sea and its islands the fastest-warming place known on Earth. It was already known that the climate crisis was driving heating across the Arctic three times faster than the global average, but the new research shows the situation is even more extreme in places. “We expected to see strong warming, but not on the scale we found,” said Ketil Isaksen, senior researcher at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. “We were all surprised. From what we know from all other observation points on the globe, these are the highest warming rates we have observed so far.” And feedback loops are on their way. Sea ice (which is good at reflecting sunlight) is now melting away. This allows the darker ocean below to absorb more energy, and warm itself (or prevent cooling itself down). The more ice is lost, the more heat accumulates, forming a feedback loop. “The broader message is that the feedback of melting sea ice is even higher than previously shown,” Ketil Isaksen said. “This is an early warning for what’s happening in the rest of the Arctic if this melting continues, and what is most likely to happen in the next decades.” We need immediate and deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. Now. We Don't Have Time. I am sending this climate warning to the world's leaders, and especially the member states of the Arctic Council: we need to act now. Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/15/new-data-reveals-extraordinary-global-heating-in-the-arctic?CMP=share_btn_tw