Environment

Arctic air temperature at record high

by Amy Judd | October 18, 2008 at 03:58 pm

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Arctic air temperature is at a record high, so Arcitc sea ice is at a record low. This is due to the climbing air temperature in the region.

There was less summer ice, therefore less deflection of solar radiation, and subsequently, a rise in ocean and air temperature.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the temperature is 5 degrees above average for this time of year.

The annual NOAA report, which monitors climate change, said there has been a near-record loss of summer sea ice, though not as much as last year which was the warmest on record for the Arctic, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960s.

They also report a loss of surface ice in Greenland.

Increased temperatures have an impact on both land and marine creatures and are likely to result in even less ice next year, the report says.

James Overland, an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle and a lead author of the report, said: "Changes in the Arctic show a domino effect from multiple causes more clearly than in other regions.

"It's a sensitive system and often reflects changes in relatively fast and dramatic ways."

In 2006 the NOAA's Climate Program Office set up the Arctic Report Card as a means of monitoring changes in the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, biology, ocean, land and Greenland.

The areas are coded a colour according to how severe the warming is in that area.

This year three of the six areas - atmosphere, sea ice, and Greenland - are coded red indicating that the changes are strongly attributed to warming. Biology, ocean and land are coded yellow, indicating mixed signals. In 2007 there were two red areas, atmosphere and sea ice, and four coded yellow.