Wobbly Jet Stream Sending the Melting Arctic into Uncharted Territory

"Extraordinary melting in Greenland's ice sheet last summer was linked to warm air delivered by the wandering jet stream, a phenomenon that scientists have increasingly tied to global warming.

This interplay of climate phenomena, described in a new study in the journal Nature Communications, is more evidence of the complex ways in which the Arctic's climate is heading for 'uncharted territory,' said the study's lead author, Marco Tedesco.

The study adds to an emerging theory on the effects of the pronounced warming of the Arctic, where temperatures are rising faster than in more temperate zones, as models have long predicted. Known as 'Arctic amplification,' this moderates the normal temperature incline that drives the jet stream. If it makes the jet stream wobble, as some scientists suspect, it would suck warm air up into the Arctic—as was observed in Greenland last year."

Bob Berwyn reports for InsideClimate News June 9, 2016.