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Due to climate change in the Arctic, this polar region is expected to become "profoundly different" by 2050. [1]: 2321 The speed of change is "among the highest in the world", [1]: 2321 with the rate of warming being 3-4 times faster than the global average.
There are several reasons to expect that climate changes, from whatever cause, may be enhanced in the Arctic, relative to the mid-latitudes and tropics. First is the ice-albedo feedback, whereby an initial warming causes snow and ice to melt, exposing darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight, leading to more warming.
The clockwise circulation of the Beaufort Gyre is induced by the wind patterns associated with the permanent anticyclonic high pressure system over the western part of the Arctic. In a clockwise-rotating gyre in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis force causes the ocean water to flow inward toward the gyre's center where it accumulates ...
New research suggests the Greenland ice sheet is on track to cross a critical threshold that could cause runaway melting, but that it’s also possible the threshold will be crossed temporarily, ...
Feedbacks associated with sea ice and snow cover are widely cited as one of the principal causes of terrestrial polar amplification. [12] [13] [14] These feedbacks are particularly noted in local polar amplification, [15] although recent work has shown that the lapse rate feedback is likely equally important to the ice-albedo feedback for Arctic amplification. [16]
Arctic amplification of climate change has impacted Arctic ecology by melting sea ice, [58] decreasing the salinity of Arctic waters, [59] altering ocean currents and water temperatures, [57] and increasing precipitation, all of which could potentially lead to a disruption of thermohaline circulation. [60]
Ice shoves can be caused by temperature fluctuations, wind action, or changing water levels [3] and can cause devastation to coastal Arctic communities. Cyclical climate change will also play a role in the formation and frequency of ice shove events; a rise in global temperatures leads to more open water to facilitate ice movement.
Papaver radicatum (arctic poppy), a flowering plant of the Arctic tundra follows the sun around the sky during the 24-hour daylight of summer north of the Arctic Circle. Changing climate conditions are amplified in polar regions and northern high-latitude areas are projected to warm at twice the rate of the global average. [1]