Arctic Warming

June 11, 2022

Written by: Caroline Kim

This summer, I plan to spend 2 weeks learning about the environment in the Arctic and Greenland alongside other students and educators. So, here are some quick basics and interesting aspects of the Arctic circle. I recently saw a video on social media of a woman explaining that it was ten thirty p.m. in Alaska, yet it was bright outside. She further explained that they often got near 24 hours of daylight, and that daylight was a strange concept where she lived. This video immediately grabbed my attention, and turns out, the Arctic, which is near this zone, experiences something similar. This is due to the tilt of earth, and the way in which the sun reaches the arctic; essentially, there are times when the sun does not reach the arctic as well as times when the sun constantly reaches the arctic.

The unique factors of the climate and characteristics of the arctic cause many deviations such as this as well as more urgent environmental concerns. For example, the Arctic tends to heat up two times as fast as other places around the world due to “... the net radiation balance of Earth, and this produces a larger change in temperature near the poles than the global average…” (Turton). The issue with this is that if ice melts, not only does it cause sea level change globally, it also causes a chain reaction of more heat being absorbed by waters. Another result of warming is the melting of permafrost (soil that has been frozen for 2+ years). “As permafrost thaws, plants and animals that were frozen in the ground begin to decay. When they decay, they release carbon dioxide and methane back to the atmosphere that can contribute to further warming” (National Snow and Ice Data Center). On top of the environmental challenges, many communities near the Arctic, such as Siberia and Alaska, are also at risk: “Many northern villages such as Tuktoyaktuk are built on permafrost, which when frozen is harder than concrete. But as the planet rapidly warms – the Arctic at least twice as fast as other regions – the thawing ground erodes and can trigger landslides” (Climate and Environment).

Sources:

“National Snow and Ice Data Center.” Climate Change in the Arctic | National Snow and Ice Data Center, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center., 2020, https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/climate_change.html.

“Climate and Environment.” United Nations, United Nations, 30 Jan. 2022, https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110722#:~:text=Many%20northern%20villages%20such%20as,erodes%20and%20can%20trigger%20landslides.

Turton, Steve. “Climate Explained: Why Is the Arctic Warming Faster than Other Parts of the World?” International Science Council, 8 Dec. 2021, https://council.science/current/blog/climate-explained-why-is-the-arctic-warming-faster-than-other-parts-of-the-world/.