Freakishly high temperatures in the Arctic driven by heat-packed oceans and northward winds have been reinforced by a "vicious circle" of climate change, scientists said Thursday.
Air above the Polar ice cap has been 9-12 degrees Celsius (16.2 to 21.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average during the last four weeks, according the data from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which tracks hourly changes in Arctic weather.
And during several days last week, temperatures above the North Pole were a balmy zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), a full 20C (36F) above the levels typical for mid-November, said Martin Stendel, a DMI climate researcher based in Copenhagen.
"This is by far the highest recorded" in the era of satellite data, starting in 1979, he told AFP.
"What we are observing is very unusual."
At this time of year, open Arctic ocean exposed by sea ice melted away in summer should be freezing again, with thousands of square kilometres icing over every day.
But that has not been happening, at least not at the same pace, said Stendel.
"Not only was the ice not growing as it would normally, there was further melting due to warm air coming in," he explained by phone.
The US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice extent in October was the lowest on record, some 6.4 million square kilometres (2.5 million square miles).
Ice cover at the top of the globe shrank to its smallest area in 2016—some 4.14 million sq km (1.6 million sq miles)—on September 16.
Several factors have caused the Arctic to overheat since late October, say scientists.
The most immediate are warm winds sweeping up from western Europe and off the west coast of Africa.
"The winds carrying this heat is a temporary—and fairly unprecedented—weather phenomenon," said Valerie Masson Delmotte, a scientist at the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory in Paris.
Only since Thursday have they abated.
Mirror effect
A second contributor is the record-strong Pacific Ocean El Nino that tapered off earlier this year—after pumping a couple tenths of a degree of added warming into the atmosphere.
But reinforcing these periodic, if powerful, drivers is the biggest one of all: global warming, experts agreed.
"The long-term decline in sea ice in the Arctic can be attributed to climate change," said Ed Blockley, lead scientist at the UK Met Office's Polar Climate Group.
Manmade climate change caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases has already pushed up Earth's average surface temperature by 1.0 C (1.8 F) since the pre-industrial era.
It the Arctic, however, the pace of warming has been twice as fast, caused in part by a vicious circle that scientists call "positive feedback".
About 80 percent of solar radiation from the Sun bounces back into space when it falls on white snow and ice, what Delmotte called a "mirror effect".
But when those same sunrays hit deep blue sea—far more of which is now exposed—80 percent of that warmth is absorbed into the water instead, and stored there.
"If you look at the extent of sea ice, then you can see the vicious circle right away, because there's a clear downward trend," said Stendel.
And in the short term, that exposed sea water is slowing the reformation of ice.
At just under zero degrees Celsius, the sea water is vastly warmer "compared to the ice that should be there", Stendel added.
Air temperatures above the thick layer if ice replaced by open sea "are generally minus 30 to minus 40 Celsius".
The loss of ice cover could have far reaching consequences.
"It amplifies global warming in general, and increases warming especially in nearby continents," Delmotte told AFP.
One of those neighbouring land masses Greenland, whose huge ice sheet—melting rapidly—contains enough water to lift global sea levels by several metres.
Explore further:
Earth's warm October not record; 2016 likely record hot
JongDan
Also, there is no mirror effect at work right now, since it's late fall therefore night in high Arctic.
Nik_2213
eg ask an AGW-denier if they'd change their mind should 5% of Greenland ice-cap slough.
Then iterate through 10%, 15% etc unto 'should ALL the ice-cap slough'...
Sadly, you'd need a non-volcanic, non-sunspot, 'Little Ice Age' to convince AGW supporters...
;-(
snoosebaum
https://weather.g...c_e.html
JongDan
Resolute is pretty far away from the north pole, m8.
cjones1
SteveS
As JongDan says Resolute is pretty far away from the north pole, and also if you scroll down on that site you will see that their forecast temperatures are far above the normals for this time of year.
Try these sites: -
http://ocean.dmi....n.uk.php
http://cires1.col...t2m.html
philstacy9
http://www.climat...0-years/
snoosebaum
and i have been to resolute and farther north so i know exaclty where it is.
Mark_Goldes
SteveS
WP?
36 degrees F or C?
Red blob?
Resolute is just one data point at 76 degrees north. It's also currently showing 5C above average temperatures and is forecasting even higher temperatures next week according to you link
https://weather.g...c_e.html
look at the arctic temperatures here: -
http://ocean.dmi....n.uk.php
Last week it was over 20C above average
gkam
Nope
https://physicsre...stitute/
Phys1
But Arctic sea ice has shrunk.
https://youtu.be/6ZAuRpK4tkc
https://www.nasa....-summers
snoosebaum
WP = washington post [ ministry of truth ] red blob = alarming NOAA color scheme
sorry but with reports like this and the election media fiasco i'm not inclined to believe anything any more.
snoosebaum
its not out of range , so where was GW then ?
antigoracle
Fortunately no where near as much as the empty space between your ears has grown.
gkam
SteveS
nor did the article claim it was
"temperatures above the North Pole were a balmy zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), a full 20C (36F) above the levels typical for mid-November"
North Pole, not Resolute.
BTW -12C is more than a bit above the average of -22C
If you mean the map on this wp article, the 'red blob' is obviously not over Resolute.
Don't get fixated on Resolute, as pointed out in other comments it is just one data point, the temperature there cannot be used as a proxy for what is clearly a seasonally very warm arctic.
snoosebaum
here is the temp @ n pole right now , the headline is screaming 36 above normal so it should be -62 does that sound right ? google has no result for nov. norms . the avg mean winter temp is - 40 , so they are saying it should 20 below normal.
here is the map with the red blob being shown over resolute and other areas,,
http://www.ecowat...838.html
SteveS
No, because you are mixing up Centigrade and Fahrenheit, and why are you looking at today's temperature when the article you linked to was dated eight days ago? When the article says "Presently, the North Pole is recording temperatures 36 F (20 C)" they are referring to the 18th not today.
And here is a map showing the location of Resolute, if you compare the two you will see that the 'red blob' is not over it.
https://www.googl...4.829729
snoosebaum
https://www.thest...nds.html
i checked the temps the day that report came out
SteveS
No conspiracy here, it's not another 'version' just the same map but for a different day. One's dated the seventeenth and the other the eighteenth, and neither one shows the 'red blob' over Resolute
I take you mean North Pole temperatures, in which case you would have seen what this buoy measured, air temperatures above zero.
http://iabp.apl.w...8480#top
Phys1
Another "conspiracy" debunked.
antigoracle
Another "brilliant" post from the retard.
gkam
Did they call you "retard"?
snoosebaum
SteveS
Not even covered, sorry.
snoosebaum
Nov 26, 2016SteveS
No, people can make up there own minds, but your original call of 'bullshit' is totally busted
Jayem01
22 hours agoTheGhostofOtto1923
This is especially poignant given his nature as a lying cheating victimizing psychopath. Cosmic irony.
gkam
But you have become so nasty in that role, I think it has tapped into a very nasty Id. Are you aware of your out-of-control emotional posts? Are you cognizant that it betrays your character, not mine, the person you attack?
Yes, we have been through this all before, your insistence we all look into psychopathy. It is a cry for help. A scream.
Go get it. For the sake of everybody who has to deal with you.
Phys1
Why don't you remove a few idiots here?
Did you even read your own guidelines?
They are a joke.