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Skriven 2004-11-08 21:33:00 av Carlos Trevino (1:278/230)
Ärende: Global warming is real an
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Arctic warming more quickly than rest of Earth
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Scientists say changes in the earth's climate from human
influences are occurring particularly intensely in the Arctic
region, evidenced by widespread melting of glaciers, thinning sea ice and
rising permafrost temperatures. ADVERTISEMENT


A study released today said the annual average amount of sea ice in the Arctic
has decreased by about 8 percent in the past 30
years, resulting in the loss of 386,100 square miles of sea ice -- an area
bigger than Texas and Arizona combined.

"The polar regions are essentially the earth's air conditioner," Michael
McCracken, president of the International Association of
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, told a news conference today. "Imagine
the earth having a less efficient air conditioner."

Susan Joy Hassol, the report's lead author, said the Arctic probably would warm
twice as much as the Earth. A region of extreme
light and temperature changes, the Arctic's surfaces of ice, ocean water,
vegetation and soil are important in reflecting the sun's
heat.

Pointing to the report as a clear signal that global warming is real, Sens.
John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said
today the "dire consequences" of warming in the Arctic underscore the need for
their proposal to require U.S. cuts in emissions of
carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases. President Bush has
rejected that approach.

In the past half-century, average yearly temperatures in Alaska and Siberia
rose by about 3.6 degrees to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit and
winters in Alaska and western Canada warmed by an average of 5 degrees to 7
degrees Fahrenheit.

With "some of the most rapid and severe climate change on earth," the Arctic
regions' melting contributed to sea levels rising
globally by an average of about three inches in the past 20 years, the report
said.

"These changes in the Arctic provide an early indication of the environmental
and societal significance of global warming," says the
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a four-year study by 300 scientists in eight
Arctic-bordering nations, including the United
States.

This most comprehensive study of Arctic warming to date adds yet more impetus
to the projections by many of the world's climate
scientists that there will be a steady rise in global temperature as the result
of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere
from the burning of fossil fuels and other sources.

It is based on ice core samples and other evidence of climate conditions such
as on-the-ground and satellite measurements of surface
air temperatures. Nations participating in the study besides the United States
are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia
and Sweden.

"The bottom line is that the Arctic is warming now, much more rapidly than the
rest of the globe, and it's impacting people
directly," Robert Corell, chairman of the scientists' study panel and a senior
fellow with the American Meteorological Society, said
Sunday.

The process is only likely to accelerate in the Arctic, a region that provides
important resources such as oil, gas and fish, the
study finds.

That would wreak havoc on polar bears, ice-dependent seals, caribou and
reindeer herds -- and local people such as Inuit whose main
food source comes from hunting those animals. Some endangered migratory birds
are projected to lose more than half their breeding
areas.

The study projects that in the next 100 years the yearly average temperatures
will increase by 7 to 13 degrees Fahrenheit over land
and 13 to 18 degrees over the ocean, mainly because the water absorbs more
heat.

Forests would expand into the Arctic tundra, which in turn would expand into
the polar ice deserts, because rising temperatures
would favor taller, denser vegetation. The areas of Arctic tundra would shrink
to their smallest extent since 21,000 years ago when,
humans began emerging from the last Ice Age.

Sea levels globally already are expected to rise between another four inches to
three feet or more this century. Longer term, sea
levels would rise alarmingly if temperatures continue to rise unabated, in the
range of 5 degrees to 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the
next several centuries.

In that scenario, the study projects "a virtually complete melting of the
Greenland Ice Sheet," which would contribute as much as 23
feet to the world's sea level rise.

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Arctic Climate Impact Assessment: http://www.acia.uaf.edu
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