In the photo: A hungry polar bear came to the White Island with a Russian weather station.
It is already difficult for them to find food in their natural environment.
Experts, led by geologist Christoph Kinnard, studied several years of meteorological observations, ship logs and geological samples. After analyzing the information received, they came to the conclusion that the sharp decrease in the ice cap of the Arctic, which is observed even from a satellite, is not only a record, but also anomalous. “This year the surface area was only 4.33 million square kilometers. And we have every reason to believe that this trend will continue in the future,”cautioned Kinnard.
Ermond Hansen of the Norwegian Polar Institute, who conducted his research independently of Kinnard and colleagues, confirmed the current trend of not only decreasing, but thinning glaciers in the Arctic. According to his calculations, perennial ice, which forms several winters and reaches 5 m in thickness, has practically disappeared. So, in the 1990s, they accounted for 28% of the entire surface of the North Pole, and last year they amounted to only 6%. At the same time, their thickness decreased to 2.2 m, that is, perennial ice gradually transforms into annual ice by its characteristics.
The reason for these phenomena, perhaps, is no longer a mystery to anyone. The colossal amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect by heating the air. According to a recently published UN Meteorological Service report, their content peaked last year. The level of radiation, that is, heat radiation, has increased by 29% over the past 20 years.
Melting ice in the Arctic, in turn, will lead to irreparable consequences. They reflect up to 80% of the sunlight, and when they disappear, the surface of the oceans will absorb 90% of the solar radiation due to their heat capacity. This means that this heat will be transferred to the atmosphere.
It turns out to be a vicious circle. The rise in temperature causes the ice to melt, and their destruction, in turn, only accelerates the process of global warming. In addition, Kinnard warned, we must not forget about the level of the World Ocean, which will be supplied with water. Researchers fear that by 2100 it could grow as much as 1.6 meters.
Do not forget that the processes taking place in the Arctic will affect animals and birds, says Alexander Kokorin, coordinator of the Climate and Energy Program of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Already, polar bears are suffering greatly from natural phenomena. If the ice edge goes too far from the coast in summer, the bears do not have time to leave with it, following the seals, and remain on the coast. Here starvation or cannibalism awaits them (they begin to eat their cubs). In populated areas of the Arctic, they can start hunting for humans.
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