The unusual warmth in the Arctic is causing some big problems, some of which are long term and some are short term. In the short term there is a lack of ice coverage of the ocean which means the dark ocean absorbs even more of the suns heat. The lack of long term thick ice will make for a very fast melt next summer increasing the heat absorbtion. This is better explained by Prof James Renwick in Hot Topic.
The higher temperatures in the Arctic reduce the temperature differential with the lower latittudes and this upsets the jet stream bringing the posibility of extreme weather in the lower, heavily populated, latittudes. Jennifer Francis has a good video on this.
With satellite information now available to us all, ametures like myself can look at current information and see conditions anywhere in the world. These are of course snap shots of information and real interpretation needs years of research and long term records. Nevertheless looking at the ocean surface temperature in the Labtov sea shows that the temperatue is only -0.9C and it needs -1.8C for the salty ocean to freeze. At the begining of December when the region is in almost total darkness it should be much colder and sea ice freezing very quickly. The Arctic is 10% lower in ice volume.
Will this increase the methane clatherate release from the sea bed? Or will it reduce the thermohaline circulation?.
Will this increase the methane clatherate release from the sea bed? Or will it reduce the thermohaline circulation?.
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