Category Archives: Impacts

A thawing, rotting Arctic?

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Permafrost thaw causes the ground to become unstable as the soil collapses. This can damage building and roads built on permafrost. Cracks also expose the carbon stored within to sunlight, which may speed the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Photo credit: Dentren (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Storflaket.JPG)

Permafrost thaw causes the ground to become unstable as the soil collapses. This can damage building and roads built on permafrost. Cracks also expose the carbon stored within to sunlight, which may speed the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Photo credit: Dentren (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Storflaket.JPG)

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, researchers are looking at a source of even more carbon emissions from underground: thawing permafrost. A warming Arctic may let significant amounts of dead, organic material currently frozen in the ground to pump more carbon into the atmosphere. How exactly does permafrost store carbon? And what are the consequences if the permafrost thaws? Continue reading →

Are we in a snow drought?

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The central and southwestern portions of the United States have experienced drought for the past several years. This photograph was taken in mid-February, 2010. By that point in winter, these rows would normally have been fully covered in snow. Photograph credit: Kristy Johnson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayaker1204/4359744393/)

In spite of the massive blizzards that have slammed parts of the northeastern United States, much of the country is experiencing a pronounced lack of snow. And where there is snow, it is less than usual. It follows a very low snow year from the previous season, causing people to worry if low snowfall is the new normal.

A previous Icelights post, Arctic sea ice and U.S. weather, discussed possible causes behind the changes in winter weather, trying to see if there are correlations to larger climate changes. Researchers like Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University are exploring the possibility that declining sea ice in the Arctic is altering atmospheric temperatures and weakening the jet stream. This change may shift the Northern Hemisphere storm track, leaving some places unusually snowy, or leaving normally snowy locations dry. Can a few good blizzards help reverse the snow drought across parts of the United States? Or is this string of dry winters yet another symptom of climate change? Continue reading →

Are icebreakers changing the climate?

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On July 20, 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy traveled through a break in the sea ice and melt ponds in the Arctic Ocean, during the NASA Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment (ICESCAPE) mission, a field survey aimed at understanding the ecology of the Arctic Ocean. |Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen|{a href=http://nsidc.org/icelights/files/2012/04/nasa_icebreaker.jpg}High Resolution Image{/a}

In summer months, icebreaking ships head north into the Arctic Ocean, tearing through the sea ice and leaving trails of open water in their wakes. Readers occasionally write in to ask us whether the trails left by these ships contribute to the melting of sea ice. Continue reading →

Greenland’s glaciers and the Arctic climate

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These before-and-after photographs show Petermann Glacier in July 2009, before the calving event, and again in July 2011. Photographs courtesy Jason Box (top), Alan Hubbard (bottom)

Last summer, a chunk of ice three times the size of Manhattan broke off Petermann Glacier in Greenland and floated out to sea. The calving left miles of newly open water in the deep Petermann Fjord, which had been capped in a thick layer of glacial ice. New research out this summer confirmed that it was likely the largest calving in the region since observations began in 1876. What does this event tell us about climate change in the Arctic? Continue reading →

Sea ice and the Arctic coast

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eroding coast and house in shishmaref, alaska

Like many villages along the Arctic coast, the Inupiaq village of Shishmaref, Alaska, is increasingly threatened by erosion, which is aggravated by the loss of sea ice and increased temperatures that lead to permafrost thaw. Credit: Shishmaref Alaska Erosion & Relocation Coalition

Why does it matter if the Arctic sea ice melts? We often hear about the global consequences: waning sea ice is expected to lead to even more climate warming. On a more immediate and local level, the loss of summer sea ice is already affecting the land and people near the Arctic Ocean. As the ice melts to reveal the open ocean underneath, fragile coastlines become vulnerable to bigger waves and storms. Continue reading →