Arctic Climate Emergency
Arctic albedo cooling is the 'air conditioner' of the Northern hemisphere.
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We all depend on the Arctic.. The Arctic serves as our planet’s fridge and because it’s largely covered by seasonal sea ice and snow, it reflects back the sun’s heat and keeps our planet cool. The Arctic therefore regulates our climate, provides a home for wildlife, livelihoods, and gives food to us all. (WWF)
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Daily sea ice
U of Bremen
Rapid Arctic summer sea ice thinning (faster than extent) as the Arctic summer sea ice melts confirmed by the new Cryosat satellite.
Arctic sea ice volume has declined by 36 per cent end of summer minimum and 9 per cent in the winter between 2003 and 2012.
This indicates the sea ice albedo cooling is dropping fast and the summer ice cover close to collapsing.
This new record suggests the Arctic may have entered a new climate era, where a combination of thinner ice together with warmer air and ocean temperatures result in more ice loss each summer. The loss of summer sea ice has led to unusual warming of the Arctic atmosphere, that in turn impacts weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere, that can result in persistent extreme weather such as droughts, heat waves and flooding. (J Stroeve NSIDC 19 Sept 2012).
Arctic Health Research
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We are in a planetary emergency
(James Hansen 19 Sept 2012 - stressing his warning of 2008 is response to the 2012 seea ice collapse
METHANE FEEDBACK RUNAWAY CLIMATE CHANGE
In addition to the warming effect of current forcing and emissions, methane plays a role in climatic feedback mechanisms that can exacerbate warming and even lead to abrupt, catastrophic climate change in the future. This risk is primarily associated with the rapid release of carbon stores in the Arctic.
A major release of Arctic methane would have a devastating impact on the global climate, and evidence indicates it has played a role in past warming events in the paleoclimate record. J. Stolaroff et al Environ. Sci. Technol. July 2012.
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE FOOD SECURITY
The Arctic snow and summer sea ice cooling albedo is the 'air conditioiner' of the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Its loss will affect the world's best food producing regions with increased climate variabilty and drought.
IPCC 2007: Arctic
... components of the terrestrial cryosphere and hydrology are increasingly being affected by climate change
These changes will have cascading effects on key regional bio-physical systems and cause global climatic feedbacks
Fast sustained feed back atmospheric
methane increase.
Arctic summer sea ice rapid melt- past tipping point
Sept 2012 Scientific American Arctic Sea Ice: What, Why and What Next
"The fall-off in ice volume is so fast that it is going to bring us to zero very quickly. 2015 is a very serious prediction and I think I am pretty much persuaded that that's when it will happen."
— Professor Peter Wadhams, Leading Arctic Expert, Cambridge University, January 2012
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