The Arctic Is in Dire Straits, 20 Years of Reporting Show
- Reference: 0180407207
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/17/0259210/the-arctic-is-in-dire-straits-20-years-of-reporting-show
- Source link:
> The first Arctic Report Card was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2006. Since then the region has warmed twice as fast as the global average. About 95 percent of the oldest, thickest sea ice is gone -- "the sliver that remains is collected in an area north of Greenland. Even the central Arctic Ocean is becoming warmer and saltier, causing more ice melt and changing how much heat is released into the atmosphere in a way that affects weather patterns around the world. Those are just some of the stark changes 20 years have wrought. The findings were highlighted in the [2]2025 Arctic Report Card , released on Tuesday.
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> The Arctic Ocean is undergoing what scientists are calling "Atlantification" -- a process where warm, salty water from the Atlantic flows north, changing how waters of different temperatures and densities are layered in the Arctic, disrupting ecosystems and altering how heat moves from the water to the air. [...] The Arctic is simply becoming wetter, with more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow. June snow cover over the entire Arctic is half of what it was 60 years ago, the report found. Permafrost also continues to thaw, releasing once trapped carbon into the atmosphere and disgorging iron and other elements that have turned rivers and streams orange. These "rusting rivers," found in more than 200 watersheds, are more acidic than normal and have elevated levels of toxic metals that endanger local ecosystems. And as the permafrost thaws, the tundra of the Arctic biome is shrinking, and the boreal forest biome is creeping northward, disrupting ecosystems.
[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-arctic-is-in-dire-straits-20-years-of-reporting-show/
[2] https://arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/
Dire Straits (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks a lot. All those microwave ovens, custom kitchens, refrigerators, and color TVs caused global warming. And for what, so you yo-yos can get money for nothing and your chicks for free?
Re: Dire Straits (Score:2)
A solution seems So Far Away but hopefully the distance Down To The Waterline won't change significantly, after all we only have One World and we're all Brothers In Arms at the end of the day! Ok, I'm out
Is there a small upside? (Score:2)
I'm hoping the extra iron going into the sea will cause plankton to grow faster and absord more CO2. Also more forest = greater CO2 absorbtion. Though obviously this is probably more than offset by the permafrost melting not to mention forests dying off where its now too hot further south.
Re: (Score:2)
The leaching is not just iron, it is also other metals, some of them quite dangerous to fish and people. We do not yet know what the effect will be.
Re: (Score:2)
Mutant fish addicted to heavy metal?
What doesn't get enough attention... (Score:2)
What doesn't get enough attention are sea currents. Aside from the atmosphere, they are the key to the climate, and not something we can really control. Changing sea currents in the Atlantic can cause much colder weather in the lower part of the Northern hemisphere, and also cause more extreme weather patterns. Everything is connected, everything influences everything, and the Earth is a closed ecosphere which we're all a part of. Since we have passed the point where things could be reversed, things will ju
Re: What doesn't get enough attention... (Score:2)
Can the reaction cause more problems than the phenomenon, as with immune responses to Covid, drug wars, etc.?
Cat tongue is rough as sandpaper (Score:2)
It is not a foregone conclusion that the die is cast, but the future's prospects are dimming.
It appeared for the longest time that humanity might rise above its base instinct for self fulfillment: perhaps rejecting tribalism for the species greater good.
Worst case scenario? Whatever is coming won't get us all. We're a resilient creature, and may survive in the numbers necessary to muck this all up again.
I said it before and I'll say it again (Score:2, Insightful)
The worst case scenarios are going to happen. Or worse.