Explorers’ logs show climate change may be a recurring phenomenon

Dr. Chad Dick, a Scottish scientist working at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, says the next five to 10 years will be a critical period in understanding sea ice and the impact of long-term global warming.

“Cycles of 60 to 80 years have been identified before in atmospheric temperature records in the Arctic. The old records that we recovered from ships’ logs and other sources may show that similar cycles are present in sea ice,” Dick told The Scotsman.

“I’ve this gut feeling that within 10 years from now we’ll know for certain whether we’re losing sea ice long term or whether it’s coming back. If it doesn’t come back it shows we are in serious trouble. Sea ice has a whole lot of effects on climate and it is pretty important.”

The Scottish Arctic explorer Sir John Ross and his nephew Sir James Clark Ross were among the hundreds of mariners whose records Dick looked at.

Sir James discovered the magnetic North Pole in 1831 after earlier accompanying his uncle to the Arctic in 1818. He then began to explore the Antarctic, giving his name to the Ross Sea, Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf.