A recent article by The Guardian delves into the issue of Arctic sea ice melt via interview with Peter Wadhams, an ocean physicist who has spent his career studying the Arctic. He was one of the first scientists to prove that the Arctic ice caps were beginning to shrink. Wadhams now predicts that the downward trend of sea ice cover will result in an ice-free Arctic in the summer months. He believes that the central Arctic will become ice-free, making the North Pole passable by ship. At the rate sea ice has been melting, he predicts this to happen in the summer of 2017 or 2018.
Regardless of if and when Wadhams’ prediction becomes reality, melting ice caps and global warming are ongoing environmental issues we face today. More than ever it’s important for society to understand the interconnectedness of our planet; that our excess in CO2 emissions causes Arctic sea ice to melt at an alarming rate, and that what happens in the Arctic can have far reaching effects around the globe. To help make the connection clear, here are the reasons why melting Arctic sea ice poses global concern:
The Albedo Effect
With ice caps melting, less solar radiation is being reflected back into space. Sea ice reflects about 50% of solar radiation, while water reflects less than 10% of the sun’s rays. With more water being exposed from the melting ice, more solar heat is being absorbed by the Arctic Ocean and heating up the Earth’s waters rapidly. The lack of sea ice also affects the cooling wind systems for Siberia and Greenland. As the wind blows along the sea, the lack of sea ice affects the temperature of the winds intended to cool these land masses. A feedback loop occurs as the Arctic sea ice melts; less solar radiation is reflecting off the Earth, the northern land masses heat up, more sea ice melts, and the temperature of the oceans will continue to increase.
Rising Sea Levels
With warmer oceans and melting sea ice, our sea levels are also rising. Greenland loses about 300 cubic kilometres of ice per year, and now Antarctica also contributes to the ice melt. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates global sea levels to rise 60-90 cm this century. However, Wadhams estimates the number to be 1-2metres. The heating of our oceans and rising sea levels will affect all areas of the world, increasing the frequency of storm surges. Coastal communities will feel the effects more quickly, with countries such as Bangladesh and the Netherlands at a high risk of being submerged and drowned by the rising sea water levels.
Methane in the Atmosphere
With our warming
waters more methane is being released and heating the atmosphere. Russian scientists discovered an increasing number of methane plumes bubbling from the seabed. Around 2005 coastal sea ice and permafrost started to melt as sea temperatures began to rise. During the summertime, warm water has made its way to the shallows and started melting permafrost from the last ice age. As the permafrost melts, sediments full of methane hydrates become exposed and methane is released into the atmosphere. These coastal plumes of methane also contribute to global warming, heating the atmosphere 23 times more powerfully than CO2.
Lingering Carbon Dioxide
As methane gets oxidized it lingers in the atmosphere for about seven or eight years. As lengthy as this may seem, it is nothing in comparison to the 100 years CO2 can linger in the climate system before being absorbed by the sea. Although methane is a growing concern with global warming, CO2 still poses a larger and
long term threat for our world’s climate problems. CO2 has a ratchet effect, where all the CO2 we release by burning fossil fuels lingers and continues to heat the atmosphere. Some researchers believe that CO2 has the potential to linger in the atmosphere for about 1000 years, causing more concern in the battle against fossil fuels and climate change.
Call for Action
At this rate, it seems like our world is going into a downward spiral. Our world’s reliance on fossil fuels is causing the ice caps to melt, causing sea levels to rise, wind temperatures to increase in the northern regions, and causing methane plumes to emerge as permafrost melts. In our current state of human induced CO2 emissions, Wadhams believes that our only hope is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
There are initiatives such as the bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) which plant trees and bushes to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Afterwards, burning the wood to trap, liquefy and store the CO2, which can also help run power plants. However, it is estimated that 40-50% of arable land is needed to make this a viable solution. As time goes on it will be interesting to see how initiatives like these can innovate and progress to effectively sequester CO2. Wadhams believes that governments must continue investing in technologies capable of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Although not a large proportion of the world’s population lives in the Arctic, the environmental changes within the region have
far reaching effects. It is not enough to keep up to date on the world’s latest sea ice data; we must also become aware of how these issues affect us, and seek out ways to improve our behaviour on a personal or even international level. We must take charge of our global citizenship and become aware of how our actions impact the environment. It’s important to think about our carbon footprints and take action to push our communities, work places and governments to reduce CO2 emissions and invest in climate action.