Climate Change In The Arctic
Ongoing changes in the climate of the Arctic include rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet. The Arctic ocean will likely be free of summer sea ice before the year 2100. Projections as to when precisely this will occur vary between the years 2060–2080, 2030, and 2016. Because of the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming, it is often seen as a high-sensitivity indicator of climate change. Scientists also point to the potential for release of methane from the Arctic region, especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates. Arctic climate changes are summarized in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Arctic Report Card presents annually updated, peer-reviewed information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic relative to historical records.
Read more about Climate Change In The Arctic: Modelling, History, and Predictions of Sea Ice, Effects, Territorial Claims, Social Impacts
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“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.”
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)