Positive feedbacks in the Arctic

Climate Feedbacks Start To Kick In More

Arctic News,

25 June, 2016

Droughts and heatwaves are putting vegetation under devastating pressure while also causing wildfires resulting in deforestation and loss of peat at massive scale, contributing to the rapid recent rise in carbon dioxide levels. 

It will take a decade before these high recent carbon dioxide emissions will reach their full warming impact. Furthermore, as the world makes progress with the necessary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, this will also remove aerosols that have until now masked the full wrath of global warming. By implication, without geoengineering occurring over the coming decade, temperatures will keep rising, resulting in further increases in abundance and intensity of droughts and wildfires.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than elsewhere. The image below shows that Arctic waters are now much warmer than in 2015. On June 22, 2016, sea surface near Svalbard was as warm as 13.8°C or 56.9°F (green circle), i.e. 11.6°C or 20.9°F warmer than 1981-2011.

As increasing amounts of soot from wildfires settle on its ice and snow cover, albedo decline in the Arctic will accelerate. In addition, heatwaves are causing rapid warming of rivers ending in the Arctic Ocean, further speeding up its warming. Then, there's the huge danger of methane releases from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile, rising temperatures will also result in more water vapor in the atmosphere, further amplifying warming.

In conclusion, feedbacks are threatening to cause runaway warming, potentially making temperatures rise by more than 10°C or 18°F within a decade.

The situation is dire and calls for comprehensive and effective action as described in the Climate Plan.

Links 

- Feedbacks in the Arctic http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/feedbacks.html
- Wildfire Danger Increasing http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/wildfire-danger-increasing.html
- Arctic Climate Records Meltinghttp://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/arctic-climate-records-melting.html
- Ten Degrees Warmer In A Decade?http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/ten-degrees-warmer-in-a-decade.html

- Arctic Sea Ice gone by September 2016? http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/arctic-sea-ice-gone-by-september-2016.html

- February Temperature http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/february-temperature.html

- International Energy Agency (IEA) http://www.iea.org/

- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) http://www.noaa.gov/