Arctic amplification

The Polar Amplifier

Seelye Martin December 17, 2021

Drip, drip, drop of the melting sea ice. Figure [Maria Scheel, imaggeo.egu.eu]

It’s no secret that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, but why? Polar Amplification (often called Arctic Amplification) is the mechanism at play. In this week’s blog, we find out about its origins and why it happens. Early Discoveries In 1969, Russian scientist Mikhail Budyko and US scientist William Sellers discovered independently that the increase in greenhouse gases comb ...[Read More]

Climate Change & Cryosphere – The tropical fingerprint in Arctic climate

Michelle McCrystall February 7, 2020

Figure 1: A schematic to illustrate an atmospheric bridge whereby connecting one part of the climate system with another [Credit: M. McCrystall].

We know that climate change is being felt worldwide, but it is especially prominent in the Arctic, where temperatures are warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. This especially sensitive environment, whose icy, snow-covered land and sea is so important in the global climate system, is really starting to feel the heat. But where is this heat coming from? In this blog post, we will ex ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Climate feedbacks demystified in polar regions

David Docquier July 6, 2018

Over the recent decades, the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the whole globe. This stronger warming, called “Arctic Amplification“, especially occurs in the Arctic because ice, ocean and atmosphere interact strongly, sometimes amplifying the warming, sometimes reducing it. These interactions are called “feedbacks” and are illustrated in our Image of the Week. Let’s ...[Read More]

Black Carbon: the dark side of warming in the Arctic

Patrik Winiger November 2, 2016

Greenland in summer: ice is covered by dark particles -- Black Carbon -- which amplify melting. [Credit : NASA ICE distributed via flickr]

When it comes to global warming, greenhouse gases – and more specifically CO2 – are the most often pointed out. Fewer people know however that tiny atmospheric particles called ‘black carbon’ also contribute to the current warming. This post presents a paper my colleague and I recently published in nature communications. Our study sheds more light into the chemical make-up of black car ...[Read More]