Nature Climate Change, November 23   The flow of heat from subtropical waters into the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean has increased over the past three decades. Monthly measurements since 1990 have shown that since 2001, the amount of heat has increased from 305 to 326 terawatts per month. This increase in ocean heat transport […]

Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, October 15 Glacier runoff during the peak of Svalbard’s meltwater season contains lower levels of most nutrients (nitrates, carbonates, organic carbons and phosphates) than in the waters surrounding the polar archipelago.  This nutrient-poor runoff increases the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere in the surrounding ocean, raising acidification and […]

The Cryosphere, November 12 Perhaps related to the above, a 1000-kilometer channel under the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland may provide more rapid run-off from the ice sheet than previously appreciated.  Researchers realized that current maps of the bedrock under this portion of the ice sheet showed this channel as “blocked” at key points: due […]

Nature Communications, November 17   From 1880 to 2012, Greenland’s three largest outlet glaciers lost enough ice to increase global sea levels by around 8 mm. These three glaciers currently drain 12% of the ice sheet, and together contain enough ice to raise sea levels by another 1.3 meters. However, climate projections under high emissions […]

Science Advances, November 6 Warmer river discharge waters into the Arctic Ocean contributed up to 10% of regional sea-ice loss from Arctic continental shelves between 1980 and 2015. Particularly notable, this injection of warm freshwater also increased sea-ice breakup in late spring and early summer. The decline of Arctic sea-ice causes a warmer Arctic Ocean […]

Science, November 6 The Pliocene Epoch (3-4 million years ago) is our best analogue for current rates of climate change. During this period, CO2 concentrations peaked at 427 ppm; and sea-level was about 17 m higher than today, implying a near-to-complete loss of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, as well as substantial portions […]

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 9   During the last Ice Age (about 110 000 to 10 000 years ago), a number of abrupt climate warming events increased temperatures up to 16.5°C over the Greenland Ice Sheet over just a few decades. New analysis of ice and sediment cores shows that such […]

Environmental Research Letters, October 12 As the Arctic rapidly warms, the temperature difference between that region and warmer lower latitudes decreases, resulting in a weakened polar jet stream (the ribbon of very fast winds that greatly influences mid-latitude weather). Changes in the shape of the polar jet stream over the past decade have allowed for […]

Nature Geoscience, October 26 Updated CMIP6 climate models (produced for the next IPCC assessment AR6) consider the radiative effects of clouds and may show higher values of warming for a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere.  If these new estimates are borne out, the upper limit of warming for a doubling of CO2 would rise […]

Nature Communications, October 27   New climate modelling shows that feedbacks from cryosphere melt dynamics including loss of Arctic summer sea-ice, melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, and retreat of mountain glaciers could result in an additional 0.4°C of global temperature rise under 1.5°C emissions scenarios. This warming response from melting ice […]

Journal of Geophysical Research – Earth Surface, October 27 Over the past three decades, the Greenland Ice Sheet ice transitioned from near balance to rapid mass loss, due to increasing temperatures in the atmosphere and ocean. For the outlet glaciers of Greenland, feeding into the oceans, multiple factors affect the behavior of individual glaciers and […]

The Cryosphere, September 24 While most glaciers are losing mass, the Kunlun Shan and Karakoram mountain range contains glaciers that are stable or growing due to increased snowfall, linked in this study to extensive agricultural irrigation in the Tamir and Junggar Basins.  Greater rates of evapotranspiration from plants in these irrigated lowlands lead to increases in […]

Nature Climate Change, October 27   If higher human greenhouse gas emissions continue, greater loss of Arctic sea ice will significantly reduce many species in the Arctic.  Lower sea ice coverage results in more light availability in these increasingly open-ocean conditions, favoring the growth of more southerly forms and even blooms of phytoplankton and zooplankton, […]

Arctic sea ice, normally growing rapidly at this time of year post-sundown, has stalled.  Extent is currently 1.2 million square kilometers lower than the 2012 record low season, which had recovered to 6.6 million square kilometers by this point in the fall season; 2019, the third-lowest summer extent, also saw an unusually low recovery path. […]

Global and Planetary Change, October 1 From 1982 to 2018, the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas have warmed by 1.3°C, with the greatest rate of warming occurring during the summer months, at +0.03°C/yr. The Greenland, Norwegian, Barents, and Chukchi Seas experienced the strongest warming due to incursion of warming waters from the mid-latitudes of […]