In this July 24, 2017 file photo, an iceberg floats past Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card, released on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, shows how warming temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the region's geography and ecosystems. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
By Christina Larson
This year's vast wildfires in far northeastern Russia were linked to broader changes in a warming Arctic, according to a report Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Wildfires are a natural part of many boreal ecosystems. But the extent of flames during the 2020 fire season was unprecedented in the 2001-2020 satellite record, and is consistent with the predicted effects of climate change, said Alison York, a University of Alaska Fairbanks fire scientist and a contributor to the annual Arctic Report Card.
The recent wildfires were exacerbated by elevated air temperatures and decreased snow cover on the ground in the Arctic region, the report found.
The past year — from October 2019 to September 2020 — was the second warmest on record in the Arctic, the report said. And the extent of snow on the ground in June across the Eurasian Arctic was the lowest recorded in 54 years.
Under those conditions, trees and plants “are just more flammable,” said York.
“The Arctic isn’t just this collection of components, it’s really an integrated system,” said Dartmouth sea ice scientist Don Perovich, who contributed to the report. "When something happens to one part of the system, it has cascading effects," he said.
Satellites recorded the second lowest extent of sea ice in September since record-keeping began 42 years ago, the report found.
Melting ice is both a result of increased temperatures and an accelerator of further changes, Perovich said. “As sea ice thins, more light can penetrate into the ocean, with unclear impacts for ecosystems,” he said.
As snow and ice cover decreases, the land and ocean surfaces also absorb more heat.
“Changes in the Arctic climate are important because the Arctic acts as a refrigerator for the rest of the world — it helps cool the planet,” said Lawrence Mudryk, a report contributor and a climate scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, a governmental research group.
“How much of the Arctic continues to be covered by snow and sea ice reflects part of how efficiently that refrigerator is working,” he said.
Last year's report included essays and research contributed by the Arctic's Indigenous communities for the first time. But in 2020, close collaboration between visiting scientists and Indigenous communities was not possible because of travel restrictions related to COVID-19.
Report contributor Matthew Druckenmiller, a climate scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, said efforts to involve Indigenous communities would resume after the pandemic subsides.
The consequences of a warming Arctic are already felt far beyond the region.
“The Arctic continues to be a warning siren of how our Earth system is changing and it is important for policymakers and the public to understand that the impacts don’t stay in the Arctic with the polar bears,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, who was not involved in the report.
“We feel them, too, through changes in our weather patterns, sea level rise, and fisheries."
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
A subvariant of the omicron COVID-19 variant called BA.2 is causing an outbreak overseas. Now, some health experts worry it could also lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Dr. Amesh Adalja, infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Dr. Alan Kaplin, Chief Scientific Officer of MyMD, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how the MYMD-1 is on track to be the first FDA-approved drug to treat aging and age-related diseases.
Tyler Hayes, CEO of Atom Limbs, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how the Atom Touch prosthetic is different from other prosthetics on the market, and how the Atom Limbs team of former Apple and Tesla leaders are bringing innovation into this industry.
Nouveau Monde Graphite says it wants to power the sustainable energy revolution. The Canadian company is developing carbon-neutral battery materials to serve the growing EV and cleantech markets and is doing so via a mining and manufacturing operation in Quebec. Eric Desaulniers, founder, president & CEO of Nouveau Monde Graphite, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Health experts are warning an even more contagious subvariant of Omicron, known as BA.2, could soon lead to another surge in Covid cases here in the U.S. The variant has already driven cases to skyrocket in China and Europe, which has historically served as a preview to the pattern the U.S. has seen throughout the pandemic. This comes at a time when protection from booster shots is waning for most people who got them. Dr. Jen Caudle, Family Physician & Associate Professor at Rowan University, explains what we can do to protect ourselves against the new variant and how we should act as warnings of another surge rise.
Catching you up on what you need to know Mar 24, 2022, with NATO meeting updates, Ukraine retaking suburbs around Kyiv, the spread of omicron subvariant BA.2 in China, Google Pay launching a third-party billing option, and a 16-year-old is suspected of being the Lapsus$ mastermind behind hacks of Microsoft and others.
Cannabis producer Cresco Labs is acquiring rival Columbia Care in a $2 billion all-stock deal, creating the largest U.S. cannabis company by sales. The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, is one of the biggest in the industry's history and would make Cresco the dominant player in a market projected to reach $46 billion in revenue by 2026. Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Moderna announced it's seeking emergency use approval for its COVID-19 vaccine from the FDA for children under 6 years old. A former FDA associate commissioner and the president and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) Peter Pitts joined Cheddar News to talk about the timeline, benefits, and risks that come with the approval of the vaccine. "We want to protect their parents and their grandparents and their caregivers and their daycare providers, so it's all about protecting not just the kids but all around the people that are surrounding those kids," he said.
Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The company announced early findings Wednesday from a study of children younger than 6.
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 23, 2022, as NATO meets in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, mortgage rates rise, Justin Trudeau is set to lead Canada until 2025, tornadoes sweep through Louisiana, California may do away with SATs, and a Starbucks in Seattle unionizes.
