Climate Change in the Arctic

Effects

Positive

Human, More jobs from tourism, Unemployment is lower, Boosts economy, More transport links

Ecological, Ducks are migrating later, Longer hunting season, Warmer water, More cod and prawns, Creates access to harbour all year round

Physical, Warmer winters, residents dont have to wear as much warm clothing, Retreating galcier in greenland revealed a zinc and lead mine

Negative

Human, Towns sinking, Fairbanks, Flooding could become a problem, Husky sled racing suffers from lack of snow, Roads are collapsing

Physical, Permafrost melting, Glaciers are in rapid retreat, Rising sea levels and more storms are accelerating costal ersion at Shismaref

Ecological, Trees collapsing, Animal are dying, Polar bears, Arctic fox, Decreasing amounts of salmon in yukon river, Increasing parasites killing salmon, Less sea ice forces polar bears into towns, warmer winters arent killing spruce bark beetles, damage 4 million acres of trees

Importance

Ice albedo feedback loop

Snow and ice reflects about 80-90% of the suns radiation

Only 10% of the suns radiation is reflected by rivers and oceans

20% of the suns radiation is reflected by vegetation and soil

Arctic ice is a major store of water, if the ice melts there would be rises in in sea level causing major flooding

8 Countries are in charge of the arctic making management difficult

Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland(Denmark), Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden

Has a wide variety of animal habitats

Permafrost contains 11% of the worlds CO2

Causes

Natural causes

Melting permafrost, Permafrost is high in CO2, as it melts more CO2 is released into the atmosphere

Anthropogenic causes

Green house effect, could be upto 16(degree C) cooler, Carbon dioxide,Methane, Ozone, Water vapour

Ice albedo feedback loop

Due to the green house effect the as temperatures rise ice melts, the less ice there is the more solar radiation is absorbed, the more the temperature rises the more ice melts.