Buckle Up! The Arctic’s Sizzling - CounterPunch.orghttps://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/17/buckle-up-the-arctics-sizzling/Exceptional warming over the Barents area | Scientific Reportshttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13568-5As for the horrific Arctic discovery: “We expected to see strong warming, but not on the scale we found,” according to Ketil Isaksen, senior researcher at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute: “We were all surprised. From what we know from all other observation points on the globe, these are the highest warming rates we have observed so far.”
This is one more example of climate change ahead of schedule. According to Dr. Ruth Mottram, Danish Meteorological Institute: “This study shows that even the best possible models have been underestimating the rate of warming in the Barents Sea,” Ibid.
Of more than passing significance,
this is the first public release of “extraordinary high-quality” surface air temperature measurements from 1981 to 2020 demonstrating 5-to-7 times global warming averages, which is off the charts problematic.According to Ketil Isaksen, PhD: “It’s off the scale.” Regrettably, it represents a “leading signal of global warming.” (Source: Ketil Isaksen, et al, Exceptional Warming Over the Barents Area, Scientific Reports 12, Article No. 9371, June 15, 2022).
The Isaksen study focused on three periods, covering 40, 30, and 20 years beginning from 1981, 1991, 2001 and all ending in 2020. The highest readings “were up to twice as high than hitherto known in this region from reference station series in the western and southern part… we showed that the warming has been strongly linked, both in space and time, to (1) the large reduction of sea ice and (2) increased SST (sea surface temperature)”, Ibid.
The Arctic sets the tone for the rest of the world, which is a horrifying thought based upon this new data. Meanwhile, down south the Doomsday Glacier set another scary record.
Off the charts temperatures in the Arctic are only one-half of the horrific news: “Antarctica’s so-called Doomsday Glacier (Thwaites) is losing ice at its fastest rate in 5,500 years, raising concerns about the ice sheet’s future and the possibility of catastrophic sea level rise caused by the frozen continent’s melting ice.” (Source: Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is Hemorrhaging Ice Faster Than in the Past 5,500 Years, LiveScience, June 15, 2022)