The temperature in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard in Norway has increased to such an extent that could end the year with an average annual temperature above the freezing point, this is the first record of it is taken, they warn scientists.
Ketil Isaksen, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, explained on Friday that is expected to average temperature in Longyearbyen, the main settlement on Svalbard human, is around 0 Celsius when it is little more than a month left in the year.
“This is worrying,” said Isaksen. “If you had asked me this five or 10 years ago could not have imagined such figures in 2016”.
The normal annual average in Svalbard, a group of islands halfway between Norway and the continental North Pole, is -6.7 ° C and the warmest year so far was 2006, when the average temperature in Svalbard was -1 8 ° C, said Isaksen.
“Svalbard is a very good place to expose what is happening in the Arctic right now,” he said, noting that each of the past 73 months has been warmer than average.
Rising temperatures in the Arctic are affecting the “permafrost” layer of frozen soil and snow cover, and the amount of sea ice, which was the second lowest that have registered this year. Isaksen added that the sea ice is growing much slower than normal as the northern winter approaches.
“Still there are huge areas in the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea east of Svalbard that are free of ice,” he said.”Normally they should be covered with ice.”
Scientists believe that the loss of sea ice accelerates warming because ice reflects sunlight into space while the dark ocean surface absorbs most of the radiation.
A report released Friday by the Institute of Stockholm Environment identified the reduction of sea ice and the thinning of the Greenland ice sheet between several “regime change” occurring in the Arctic as a result of climate change.
“These regime changes affect the stability of climate and landscape, plant species and the ability of animals to survive and livelihoods and ways of life of indigenous peoples,” said the institute.
Several studies show that the world as a whole is on track to set a new record heat this year, with the weather phenomenon El Niño adding to the underlying warming trend.
