When the sea took the land

A previous blog titled 'Melting Away' has been written on how the temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at a rate higher than the global average and on the consequence of climate change on societies today living in the Arctic circle. As a more recent development, on December the 15th, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a press statement stating that "the Arctic is warming twice as fast as other parts of the world". Extensive melting was mostly observed in parts of west Greenland, northwest Alaska, and Baffin Bay, and a 5°C increase in temperatures above the average was measured in some areas during 2015 (figure 1). The report presented statistical description of the observation for the Arctic region for the year 2015 and amongst the key findings were:

• average Arctic temperatures  were seen to be 2°C warmer than the global average
• minimum sea ice extent for September was 29% less than the average
• maximum sea ice extent occurred 15 days earlier than the average
• maximum sea ice was 7% less than the average
• snow cover has decline 18% per decade since 1979
• a substantial increase in green vegetation already seen to respond to the warmer climate
• a noted change the habitat of walruses and subarctic fish




Figure 1: A map and a graph demonstrating how the temperatures across the Arctic are increasing above the average rate (source)

A documentary which might be of interest to some of you follows the story of an Arctic village, Kivalina, northern Alaska, as erosion of the land by the force of the sea is threatening their village. The documentary shows how in the past thick sea ice protected the village from the impacts of sea waves. Today, the rising temperatures have melted the sea ice and the soft land is crumbling into the water and the waves hit the shores. A short trailer can be view below, and the documentary itself is airing this Sunday at 9pm on Al Jazeera.