(The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent source of news, commentary, and analysis from experts in academia.)
The authors are Rick Thoman of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Matthew L. Druckenmiller of the University of Colorado Boulder, and Twila A. Moon of the University of Colorado Boulder.
If you’re not one of the 4 million people who call the Arctic home, it can seem like a remote location cut off from everyday life. However, the Arctic’s ongoing changes due to rising temperatures have the potential to significantly impact people’s lives everywhere.
As the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic glaciers release meltwater into the oceans, coastal flooding is getting severe in many areas. In addition to human-produced emissions that are warming the planet, heat-trapping gases emitted by Arctic wildfires and thawing tundra mix swiftly in the atmosphere. Changes in the Arctic may have an impact on food supply, unusual and extreme weather occurrences, and growing risks from wildfire and associated smoke.
We assembled 97 scientists from 11 nations, with backgrounds ranging from wildlife to wildfire, sea ice to snow, to report on the condition of the Arctic environment in the 2024 Arctic Report Card, which was published on December 10.
They talk about the drastic changes they are seeing in the Arctic and the effects they are having on people and wildlife around the world.
Pace of change in the Arctic accelerates
The Arctic now is remarkably different from what it was even a decade or two ago. Together with the numerous other authors who contributed to the study, we have observed the acceleration of environmental change and the growing complexity of the challenges over the 19-year history of the Arctic study Card.
The timing and nature of the seasons have changed over the last 15 years due to the Arctic snow season being one to two weeks shorter than it was in the past.
Animals and plants that rely on regular seasonal changes may find it difficult to survive shorter snow seasons. Extended periods without snow can also raise the risk of drought and deplete water supplies from melting early in the spring or summer.
shift in the length of the season and the amount of snow in the Arctic. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card, Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
In comparison to the thicker and more extensive sea ice of previous decades, the amount of sea ice, which is a crucial habitat for several creatures, has decreased in ways that render the current sea ice landscape, which is primarily thin and seasonal, unrecognizable.
Because of the shorter sea ice season, the black ocean surface is more exposed and has the capacity to absorb and retain more heat throughout the summer, contributing to the rise in air and ocean temperatures. This is consistent with long-term warming measurements for the ocean surface waters in the Arctic. Animals that depend on sea ice may also be compelled to come ashore or endure extended periods of fasting. Additionally, the Arctic shipping season is getting longer and maritime traffic is rising quickly every summer.
Compared to earlier times, the area covered by Arctic sea ice has been decreasing. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card, Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
All things considered, 2024 saw the wettest summer on record and the second-warmest temperatures in the Arctic since records have been kept since 1900.
Surface temperatures in the Arctic have been increasing more quickly than the world average. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
Arctic tundra becomes a carbon source
The permafrost, or frozen ground, and shrubs of the Arctic tundra have been acting as a carbon dioxide sink for thousands of years. This means that the landscape has been absorbing and storing the gas, which would otherwise trap heat in the atmosphere.
However, the Arctic’s permafrost has been thawing and warming. Long-stored carbon can be broken down into carbon dioxide and methane by bacteria in the permafrost once it has thawed. Further global warming results from the release of these heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.
Additionally, the length of the wildfire season has lengthened, and wildfires have been bigger and more intense, releasing more carbon dioxide into the sky.
In recent years, large areas of the Arctic that formerly absorbed more carbon than they released have turned into net carbon sources, which has accelerated climate change. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card, Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
These changes have pushed the tundra ecosystem over an edge. Susan Natali and associates discovered that the Arctic tundra region is currently a source of carbon dioxide rather than a sink or place to store it. Because of the thawing permafrost, it was already a source of methane.
The Arctic landscape s natural ability to help to buffer human heat-trapping gasses is ending, adding to the urgency to reduce human emissions.
Stark regional differences make planning difficult
The Arctic Report Card covers October through September each year, and 2024 was thesecond-warmest year on record for the Arctic. However, residents of the Arctic may endure what is known as regional or seasonal weather whiplash.
Significant regional variations in weather might complicate planning and throw off established seasonal routines. These include significant seasonal variations or drastically differing weather in nearby locations.
For example, some areas across North America and Eurasia experienced more winter snow than usual during the past year. Yet, the Canadian Arctic experienced theshortest snow season in the 26-year record. Early loss of winter snow can strain water resources and may exacerbate dry conditions that can add to fire danger.
A map of Arctic precipitation from January to March 2024 shows the wide differences among regions and where some saw their wettest year on record. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card, Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
Summer across the Arctic was the third warmest ever observed, and areas of Alaska and Canada experienced record daily temperatures during August heat waves. Yet, residents of Greenland s west coast experienced an unusually cool spring and summer. Though the Greenland Ice Sheet continued its 27-year record of ice loss, theloss was less than in many recent years.
Ice seals, caribou and people feeling the change
Rapid Arctic warming also affects wildlife in different ways.
As Lori Quakenbush and colleagues explain in this year s report,Alaska ice seal populations, including ringed, bearded, spotted and ribbon seals, are currently healthy despite sea ice decline and warming ocean waters in their Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort sea habitats.
However, ringed seals are eating more saffron cod rather than the more nutritious Arctic cod. Arctic cod are very sensitive to water temperature. As waters warm, theyshift their range northward, becoming less abundant on the continental shelves where the seals feed. So far, negative effects on seal populations and health are not yet apparent.
Many caribou herds have lost population in recent years. NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card, Climate.govClimate.gov by NOAA
On land,large inland caribou herds are overwhelmingly in decline. Climate change and human roads and buildings are all having an impact. Some Indigenous communities who have depended on specific herds for millennia are deeply concerned for their future and the impact on their food, culture and the complex and connected living systems of the region. Some smaller coastal herds are doing better.
Indigenous peoples in the Arctic have deep knowledge of their region that has been passed on for thousands of years, allowing them to flourish in what can be an inhospitable region. Today, theirobservations and knowledge provide vital support for Arctic communitiesforced to adapt quickly to these and other changes. Supporting Indigenous hunters and harvesters is by its very nature an investment in long-term knowledge and stewardship of Arctic places.
Action for the Arctic and the globe
Despite global agreements and bold targets, human emissions of heat-trapping gasses arestill at record highs. And natural landscapes, like the Arctic tundra, are losing their ability to help reduce emissions.
Simultaneously, the impacts of climate change are growing, increasing Arctic wildfires, affecting buildings and roads as permafrost thaws, and increasing flooding and coastal erosion as sea levels rise. The affects are challenging plants and animals that people depend on.
Click to expand image. Arctic Report Card 2024, NOAA Climate.govNOAA Climate.gov
Our2024 Arctic Report Cardcontinues to ring the alarm bell, reminding everyone that minimizing future risk in the Arctic and in all our hometowns requires cooperation to reduce emissions, adapt to the damage and build resilience for the future. We are in this together.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here:https://theconversation.com/arctic-has-changed-dramatically-in-just-a-couple-of-decades-2024-report-card-shows-worrying-trends-in-snow-ice-wildfire-and-more-237738.
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