Arctic heating up two times faster than the rest of the world: NOAA report

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its state-of-the-climate report Aug. 6. The cover photo shows Wrangel Island, Alaska in early morning.

More than 380 scientists from 52 countries say climate change is affecting the entire world and heating the Arctic at a rate two times higher than anywhere else.

The State of the Climate in 2012, released Aug. 6 by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, surveys the changing state and behavior of the physical climate system.

For 2012, the annual “score card” presents a series of grim findings on just how much change took place, particularly in the Arctic.

The 260-page report details numerous record melt events observed for permafrost temperatures, spring snow cover extent, and summer sea ice cover.

Many of these events were related to “a strong and persistent southerly airflow into the Arctic in spring and summer,” the report says.

“The findings are striking,” Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA’s acting administrator, told reporters.”Our planet as a whole is becoming a warmer place,” she told reporters.

Among the report’s findings, published as a supplement to the August 2013 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:

• 2012 ranked as 12th lowest in snow cover extent over the 1967-2012 period, and the end-of-spring (June) snow cover was the lowest on record;

• in 2012, summer minimum sea ice extent was recorded at 3.41 million square kilometres: the lowest of the satellite era, and 18 per cent lower than in 2007, when the previous record of 4.17 million sq. km. was recorded;

• the global surface temperature ranked among the top 10 warmest years on record. Over land and ocean combined, 2012 was between 0.14 C and 0.17 C above the 1981–2010 average, depending on the analysis. The globally averaged annual temperature over land in 2012 was 0.24 C to 0.29 C above average; and,

• in 2012, there were record warm permafrost temperatures in the Alaskan Arctic and Canadian Arctic islands.

And the Arctic is not only affected by climate change — but changes in the Arctic also affect on the rest of the world: “it appears that the ice melting is contributing twice as much to global sea level rise as warming waters,” Jessica Blunden, a climatologist at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center said.

The NOAA report follows a Aug. 5 statement from the American Geophysical Union on climate change. Titled “Human-induced Climate Change Requires Urgent Action,” the statement says “humanity is the major influence on the global climate change observed over the past 50 years” and that ”rapid societal responses can significantly lessen negative outcomes.”