The annual report on the state of the Arctic highlighted record increases in temperatures and shrinking ice volumes.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has published its annual report on the state of the Arctic, the Arctic Report Card. According to the report, the results of the 2017 research show that the region has finally established a "new norm" for temperatures. According to scientists, the Arctic will not return to a stable state of ice in the near future, the volume and thickness of the ice cover will continue to decrease. The text of the report is available on the NOAA website.
In preparing the report, NOAA specialists used the work of 80 scientists from around the world, including Russian researchers. These works confirmed that warming in the Arctic is going twice as fast as in other regions of the Earth.
Despite the relatively cold spring and summer of 2017, Arctic temperatures are still approaching record highs. The near-surface air temperature in September 2017 was the second highest since 1900. The temperature of the water in the seas of the Arctic Ocean is also rising. For example, in August 2017, the near-surface water layers in the Barents and Chukchi Seas were 4 ° C warmer than average. The rise in temperatures indicates that the fall temperature falls later in the northern regions.
The volume of Arctic ice continues to decrease. Scientists have compared the satellite observations with the results of the analysis of ice cores, samples of permafrost rocks and annual tree rings. These studies showed that the ice in the Arctic has reached its lowest volume in the last 1,500 years. The authors of the report point out that the decrease in sea ice volumes does not directly increase sea level, but it has many other dangerous consequences. In particular, the lifestyle of polar animals, and hence the stability of food chains, depends on the amount of ice.
Natalia Pelezneva
