Combined forces of nature and mankind behind Arctic warming

A recent study published on the journal Nature has concluded that there are various natural causes acting simultaneously with human activities that are leading to melting of ice and glaciers near the frozen Arctic zone in the Northern Hemisphere. Global Warming, on account of increasing concentration of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and the consequent rise in earth's average temperature is not the only reason why the glaciers are thawing at such an alarming rate near the Arctic belt. The research reveals there is a sudden rise in the level of energy in the atmosphere. This natural phenomenon is cyclical in nature and the direction of movement of the energy level is from south to north owing to oceanic currents, across regions covering the entire Arctic Circle. The study finds out that this naturally-occurring increase in the amount of energy transfer (which originates from storms) across this Arctic expanse, coupled with man-made processes that boost Global Warming, is leading to warming of the Arctic area and a consequent massive melting of ice-sheets, glaciers and sea-ice around this region. As these ice-sheets and glaciers have the capability to reflect solar rays, reduction in their coverage will indicate warming of this Arctic area at a faster rate than the rest of the world.

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Scientists are still pursuing research to comprehend why the Arctic region is warming up and the ice-sheets melting at a faster pace than what was originally forecasted. During the summer months of 2007, the extent to which sea-ice in the Arctic Ocean and the ice sheet in Greenland receded has surpassed all previous record levels. In the month of September, 2007, statistics showed that sea-ice in the Arctic Ocean has reduced by almost 23% than the recorded lowest level. It was also disclosed that the ice sheet of Greenland has thawed 19 million tons more as compared to earlier recorded levels. This recently concluded study opined that temperature of atmospheric air about 2 miles above the Earth's surface is increasing at a faster rate than predicted and this cannot be accounted for exclusively by Global Warming.

Rune Graversen, a co-author of this study and a meteorology researcher at Stockholm University in Sweden is of the opinion that both energy transfer and the well-known phenomenon of Global Warming (via the Greenhouse Effect, where greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide traps heat being radiated from the Earth' surface thereby raising average atmospheric temperature) are combined factors causing this accelerated rate of thawing of Arctic ice. James Overland, an oceanographer from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's laboratory in Seattle and who also reviewed this study supported Graversen's analysis, said,

If we didn't have the little extra kick from global warming then we wouldn't have gone past the threshold for the change in sea ice.

However some other scientists sought to disapprove this study by pointing out the fact that since this study examines data only till 2001, it underrates the recent adverse impacts of Global Warming and hence the findings are not very precise. Mark Serreze, a senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo was quoted saying,

Think of it as a boxer that's almost going down for the count ... and that one blow to the noggin comes and he's down for the count.

This shortly concluded research in the journal Nature has indeed laid the foundation for conducting further studies on the cause and consequences of warming of Arctic temperature at a higher rapidity than that of the rest of the world.

Source: abcnews