The polar regions have long been expected to warm strongly as a result of anthropogenic climate change, because of the positive feedbacks associated with melting ice and snow. Several studies have noted a rise in Arctic temperatures over recent decades but have not formally attributed the changes to human influence, owing to sparse observations and large natural variability.

This year is on track to be about the 10th warmest globally since records began in 1850 but gaps in Arctic data mean the world may be slightly underestimating global warming, a leading scientist said on Tuesday.

This illustrated and compact brochure presents data on the impact of climate change in the Russian Arctic. The text compiles scientific observations, witness accounts from local residents, and data on current and foreseen damage due to climate change. Alas, the situation in the Arctic is alarming, and the forecasts are discouraging.

Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NOx =NO+ NO2) play a pivotal role in the cycling of reactive nitrogen (ultimately deposited as nitrate) and the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. Combined measurements of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of nitrate collected in the Arctic atmosphere were used to infer the origin and fate of NOx and nitrate on a seasonal basis.

Despite cooler temperatures and ice-favoring conditions, long-term decline continues. This is a press release from NSIDC, which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Preliminary data from two Arctic cruises suggest that rising temperatures are already causing substantial amounts of methane to be released from beneath the ocean floor. But catastrophic gas leaks, like those believed to have occurred 55 million years ago, are unlikely, scientists say.

Predicting the ocean

Relative rates of temperature change between the troposphere and surface, and the mechanisms that produce these changes, have long been a contentious issue. Graversen et al.predicated upon the ERA-40 reanalysis, report polar tropospheric amplification of surface warming and attempt to explain this finding dynamically. (Brief Communications Arising)

Climate change is changing all the rules in the Arctic. The polar ice cap is smaller by some 700,000 square miles than it was in the two decades before 2000. The annual melting of northern ice this year may well surpass last year's - the furthest retreat of Arctic ice in a single year since it was first measured.

The incredibly rapid rate at which Canada's Arctic ice shelves are disappearing is an early indicator of the "very substantial changes" that global warming will impose on all mankind, a top scientist said on Wednesday.

Researchers announced late on Tuesday that the five ice shelves along Ellesmere Island in the Far North, which are more than 4,000 years old, had shrunk by 23 percent this summer alone.
The largest shelf is disintegrating and one of the smaller shelves, covering 19 square miles (55 square km), broke away entirely last month.

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