The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world
A new study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment suggests climate models underestimate Arctic heating rates, which could be occurring twice as fast as commonly thought, predominantly driven by human-caused global warming. (see study details here) Some parts of the Arctic region are warming up to seven times faster than the rest of the world, not the two to three times that has been typically referenced. "The Arctic is more sensitive to global warming than previously thought," study author Mika Rantanen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute told NPR. Scientists have observed record glacier melt in the Arctic this year as heat waves swept across the circumpolar region that includes Alaska, Arctic Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia. Arctic warming has a wide reach, as evidence suggests that it’s also impacting weather patterns in North America and Europe, and the migration of marine species. “Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all,” Antti Lipponen, a co-author from the Finnish Meteorological Institute cautioned the AFP news agency.
(NPR, New York Times $, CBS, Daily Beast, Al Jazeera, CNN, Axios, The Hill, CNN, Washington Post $)
(Climate Signals Background: Arctic Amplification)
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