"The changes happening at the top of the planet could unfold elsewhere in the years to come, scientists report."
"Across the icy dome that crowns the Earth, rising temperatures are turning the tundra greener and more lush. Beavers are expanding their range. Garbage from passing ships is fouling the shores. Wildfires are scorching the once permanently frozen lands of Siberia.
Such is the picture that scientists painted in their latest assessment of the Arctic, which is heating up more than twice as quickly as the rest of the globe. This warming has propelled a variety of disruptions that make the polar region a potential harbinger for what people at lower latitudes might someday experience as a result of human-induced climate change.
“The vulnerabilities in the Arctic are more noticeable,” said Matthew L. Druckenmiller of the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center, who was an editor of the new assessment. “But these are similar vulnerabilities that we’re going to see unfold for our entire planet in the decades to come.”
While this year’s Arctic Report Card does not recount “blockbuster,” record-breaking changes in the region’s climate, it nonetheless shows “consistent, alarming and undeniable” trends toward drastically different conditions there, said Richard W. Spinrad, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which produces the annual health check."
Raymond Zhong reports for the New York Times December 14, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"Arctic Warming: ‘Consistent, Alarming And Undeniable’" (E&E News)
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