![]() As a result, melting permafrost across the world’s northerly climates could release twice as many greenhouse gases as are already in the atmosphere. These microbes become more populous as temperatures warm. These frozen Arctic soils are thought to contain some 1,460 to 1,600 billion metric tons of organic carbon, which can be converted into the greenhouse gases of carbon dioxide and methane by microbes in soil. It encompasses huge swathes of territory across Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and Canada. Permafrost is the carbon-rich frozen soil that covers nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. That’s because the Arctic may already have become a net emitter of carbon dioxide due to thawing permafrost, which will accelerate global warming, the new report says. ![]() In order to limit warming to Paris targets, the world’s nations would have to cut their planet-warming emissions in half by 2030, and become entirely carbon neutral by mid-century.Įven if industry, power and transport could be revolutionized in that short period, a melting Arctic could still put those temperature goals out of reach. The UN climate talks currently taking place in Madrid, however, have made clear how unlikely that goal has become, as nations fail at making meaningful progress to dent their carbon emissions. Trump’s administration has meanwhile sought to withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Accord, under which nearly every nation on earth pledged to help keep global average temperature rises to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius by stemming greenhouse gases. It was only a few weeks ago that the White House threatened NOAA staff with reprisals for correcting a fabrication about hurricanes spread by President Trump. Its ominous conclusions show a region that is evolving into something chillingly unfamiliar.Īt a time when the US presidential administration seeks to politicize climate change and dull the work of government agencies charting its effects, the report offers a striking and gloomy rebuke. ![]() Such are the findings of the Arctic Report Card 2019, a major annual climate change assessment published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States. These changes will be felt far away from the North Pole in the form of more severe weather swings, increased greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels due to a thaw in Greenland’s ice sheet and melting mountain glaciers. Potential mechanisms should be investigated urgently.The Arctic is undergoing a profound and rapid shift into a new condition, one that is greener, features less ice, warmer temperatures and which emits greenhouse gasses on par with several industrial nations due to melting permafrost, according to a new US government report released this week. If sea ice does not drive the net flux of these gases, it is a highly precise proxy for whatever does. Our results are consistent with a proposed role of a high-latitude temperature-dependent abiotic variable such as sea ice in the annual cycles of carbon dioxide and methane. Conclusion: Time lags between variables indicate primary drivers of the gas dynamics are due to solar action on the polar regions, not mid-latitudes as is conventionally believed. The very high synchrony of the two gases is most parsimoniously explained by a common causality acting in both Hemispheres. Sea ice melt rate peaks in very tight synchrony with temperature in each Hemisphere. Methane is very strongly correlated with sea ice dynamics, with the global (and Mauna Loa) methane rate lagging sea ice extent rate by 5 months. Results: Carbon dioxide is very strongly correlated with sea ice dynamics, with the carbon dioxide rate at Mauna Loa lagging sea ice extent rate by 7 months. We consider a variable that lags another can not be causal of the leading variable. Method: Time-series analysis of carbon dioxide, methane, sea ice parameters, vegetation greenness (NDVI), and temperature. ![]() Objective: We test an alternative, that the cycles of these greenhouse gases might be linked to sea ice dynamics. Background: The seasonal cycle of atmospheric carbon dioxide is usually ascribed to the seasonality of Northern Hemisphere vegetation, and the seasonal cycle of methane is usually ascribed to seasonal removal by the hydroxyl radical. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |