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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Big Sur, California
Big Sur, California
California Wildfires May Preserve Arctic Ice
July 30, 2008 12:56 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Smoke from North American wildfires may briefly relieve warming in the Arctic, by helping to temporarily block the sun and cool the air.
30-Second Summary
A study has found that the smoke produces “a veil of aerosols,” or tiny liquid and solid particles, that reduce sunlight and can thus cool surface air for a short period of time.
“The effect may last weeks to months during late spring through autumn if smoke is widely dispersed, potentially offsetting some of the warming caused by greenhouse gases,” National Geographic reported last week.
Researchers studied a 2004 wildfire in Alaska and Canada and its impact on how much of the sun’s energy reaches Earth’s surface, acccording to the study’s lead author, Robert Stone of the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.
The study comes amid rising concern about the state of the Arctic coastline. In June, scientists posited that the North Pole could become ice-free this summer for the first time in history.
This week, Britain’s Globe and Mail reported that the Arctic coastline has lost its biggest chunk since an entire ice shelf broke off in 2005.
The Globe and Mail also reported that the Arctic coastline, once made up of 9,000 square km of ice, has shrunk to less than 1,000 square km.
As the Arctic ice melts, competition is heating up for control of the area’s untapped energy resources, as well as new shipping routes that are expected to open up.
“The effect may last weeks to months during late spring through autumn if smoke is widely dispersed, potentially offsetting some of the warming caused by greenhouse gases,” National Geographic reported last week.
Researchers studied a 2004 wildfire in Alaska and Canada and its impact on how much of the sun’s energy reaches Earth’s surface, acccording to the study’s lead author, Robert Stone of the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.
The study comes amid rising concern about the state of the Arctic coastline. In June, scientists posited that the North Pole could become ice-free this summer for the first time in history.
This week, Britain’s Globe and Mail reported that the Arctic coastline has lost its biggest chunk since an entire ice shelf broke off in 2005.
The Globe and Mail also reported that the Arctic coastline, once made up of 9,000 square km of ice, has shrunk to less than 1,000 square km.
As the Arctic ice melts, competition is heating up for control of the area’s untapped energy resources, as well as new shipping routes that are expected to open up.
Headline Link: ‘Wildfires May Briefly Slow Arctic Warming, Study Says’
In 2004, smoke from wildfires in Alaska and Canada drifted over Barrow, Alaska, giving scientists the opportunity to study its effect on the sun’s energy. “The smoke layer was so thick that the total absorption and scattering of the sun’s energy rose a hundredfold above typical summer values,” National Geographic reported.
Source: National Geographic
Background: ‘North Pole May Be Ice-Free This Summer’
Scientists raised the possiblity that higher temperatures could leave the North Pole ice-free by the end of this summer for the first time in history, during a meeting in Greenland to discuss territorial claims to the area. The Arctic Ocean may also yield undiscovered oil and gas reserves under its seabed. “This is a very dramatic change in the High Arctic Climate System,” said Canadian climate scientist David Barber to Canwest News Service.
Source: findingDulcinea
Global warming is starting to remake the Arctic coastline, as an ice shelf in Canada has lost its largest chunk since 2005, reports the Globe and Mail. The 4-square km (1.5 square mile) piece broke off last week. In 2005, one of Canada’s six major ice shelves broke off and created a vast frozen island. “Over the past century, 9,000 square kilometers of ice attached to the Arctic coastline have shrunk to less than 1,000 square kilometers,” the Globe and Mail said.
Source: Bloomberg
Related Topics: Arctic oil, toxicity
The Tribune’s Alex Rodriguez writes that Russia’s efforts to claim the Arctic’s vast energy resources may be for nothing. Last year, a Russian submersible went to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and placed a Russian flag on its seabed in an attempt to stake out territory. But a U.S. Geological Survey report indicates that most of the Arctic’s untapped resources lie in areas already under the jurisdiction of Alaska, Canada and Russia’s Siberian coast.
Source: Chicago Tribune
A Canadian study recently found that toxicity has been dropping in Arctic animals, although heavy metal levels remain high. The study tracked toxic chemical levels in Arctic animals for 10 years and discovered large drops in toxins from pesticides, including a 43-percent fall in PCB levels.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reference: The smoke study, the Arctic Ocean
The results of the study outlined by National Geographic were published on July 22 in the Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres by a team of American scientists.
Source: American Geophysical Union
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world’s oceans, after the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Southern. It is slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the U.S.
Source: Central Intelligence Agency
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