23 Dec ARCTIC AMPLIFICATION AND DISTRESS: GS-1

ARCTIC AMPLIFICATION AND DISTRESS- Today Current Affairs

Context: The arctic report card 2021, which was released recently,  shows that the arctic region is warming up almost at double the rate than the rest of the world. There are many indicators like sea ice extent, volume , surface air temperature, which tells how the region has been heating up for quite some time now. The arctic region which is characterised by frozen landscapes, has recorded a significant sea ice loss in the past year.

Arctic amplification:  The Arctic is getting warmer at almost double the speed then the rest of the world in recent decades. This phenomenon is  known as Arctic amplification. Water vapors are increasing in the atmosphere, Cloud cover over the arctic is changing its colour,  more atmospheric heat is getting transported from the regions of low latitudes resulting in declining sea ice, which can all be the main contributing factors to this amplification.

Some statistics of the report: The Hindu Analysis

• The autumn of 2020 was the warmest ever for the arctic region since 1900.

• In April, the volume of sea ice in the northern hemisphere was the lowest since the data are available. 

• Since April 2002 the Greenland ice sheet has lost nearly 5000 gigatonnes of mass.

The Arctic/Polar Amplification Effect is mainly a combination of many things, not one factor alone as discussed below: Today Current Affairs

Global warming: The chief component that results in increasing the temperature all over the world and also in arctic regions is global warming. This results in the  change in magnitude of  ice extent and snow cover loss. This will result in more dramatic changes in the climate over the polar region. The Hindu Analysis.

More land in the Northern hemisphere: The arctic region is surrounded by more land from all sides as compared to the south pole. We all know that land heats up faster than water resulting in an increase in temperature in all the areas including arctic regions. As a result, the arctic region will have more temperature and more melting of ice.

Changes in cloud cover: Another potential contributor to this increased warming that’s investigated in this report is changes in cloud cover. However, increased cloud cover is expected to cause surface warming because clouds have a warming influence in spring. Thus resulting in more amplified heating in this region in spring like recent near-surface Arctic warming.

Ice melting:  The melting of the ice in the arctic is increasing at a rate of 13% per decade. As ice reflects more sunlight than it absorbs but if this ice will melt  it will reveal the darker areas of land or sea. As a result the absorption of sunlight will be  increased and so will be the associated warming. 

In recent decades the scientists have noticed that the water vapor content in the arctic atmosphere has increased and this may amplify Arctic warming. The Hindu Analysis.

Shift of jet streams: The latitudinal shift of the jet-stream will be increased as a result of increased global warming. As a result the land area will be dried out further to the north resulting in changes to vegetation and land albedo as well as increased fire risk (all of which translate to increased CO2 and increased warming).

Poor mixing of cold polar air with surrounding air: Colder dense air over the Antarctic prevents some degree of mixing with air mass from other regions, thus helping this region retain cold air mass longer than the in Arctic region which is subject to many factors that can move heat or cold energy in and out of the polar region through the ocean or the atmosphere.

Effects of arctic amplification: The Hindu Analysis

Albedo: Acting like a highly reflective blanket, the Arctic cryosphere protects Earth from getting too warm. Snow and ice have a high albedo. They reflect almost all the incoming solar radiation and this will help in keeping the earth cool. Thus,  the heating and cooling of the Earth’s surface depends a lot on the presence or absence of snow and ice  in that area. As a result this albedo influences the energy balance of the whole planet.

 Means Sea Level Rises: As the Earth is becoming warm the world is seeing a rise in sea level by 1-2 mm each year. The melting of the glaciers and ice sheets, which add water to the oceans, are some of the reasons for sea-level rise that were once trapped on land. Some glaciers and ice sheets are generally more vulnerable than others . These have become less stable because of global warming resulting in their faster movement towards the ocean, and will add more ice into the water. 

Feedback Loop: The ocean and land that were underneath this ice will get exposed to the sunlight  because of the melting of more snow and ice each summer because of global warming. Because of their dark colour, the ocean and land absorb more incoming solar radiation as they have low albedo and then release the heat to the atmosphere. This causes more global warming. In this way, it will become a cycle or loop as melting ice causes more warming and so more ice melts. This is known as a feedback loop.

Melting Permafrost Releases Greenhouse Gas: The soils in the polar regions are getting thaw because of global warming which were  frozen for as much as 40,000 years. As a result of thawing, the carbon that was trapped in this soil will be released in the atmosphere as methane and it is a powerful greenhouse gas resulting in further global warming and in return more frozen soils will be melted.

Ocean Acidification: Scientists are suggesting that the release of CH4 from the permafrost seafloor in this region could enhance ocean acidification in that region over the next century.

Storage of Carbon: The cryosphere locks the greatest amount of CO2 in the world. The permafrost of the polar region has trapped tonnes of carbon inside its soil. The Hindu Analysis.

Arctic biodiversity is under serious threat from climate change and arctic amplification.

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Swarn Singh

Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member