The rapid disappearance of Arctic sea ice is having profound regional climatic impacts and beginning to affect the global climate. Let us glance through some of the possible contributing factors to this effect.
1. Albedo effect
The melting of Arctic Ocean ice is turning the top of the world from white to blue. Since dark surfaces absorb far more heat than while ones, the loss of ice and snow on sea and land is increasing regional and global temperatures.
2. Methane release
The retreat of Arctic sea ice, and the resulting warming, is beginning to thaw offshore permafrost that contains large amounts of frozen methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Continued Arctic Ocean ice loss and rising temperatures could cause massive methane releases.
3. Melting the Greenland Ice Sheet
Rising Arctic air temperatures, in part caused by the disappearance of sea ice, are leading to widespread surface melting of Greenland’s massive ice sheet. This melt is adding some 72 cubic miles of water to the ocean annually, leading to a sea-level increase.
4. Increase in Water Vapour
Warmer air holds more moisture, so rising Arctic air temperature means that the once fringed polar atmosphere is holding more water vapour. Water vapour is itself a greenhouse gas, trapping outgoing longwave radiation, so this further heats up the Arctic.
5. Warming Rivers
As snow cover disappears, causing Arctic terrestrial regions to absorb more heat, the run-off and snowmelt from waterways flow through warmer land, increasing the temperature of large, north-flowing rivers in Siberia and Canada. The warmer rivers increase even more heat into the Arctic Ocean.
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