Rising Temperatures, Melting Ice Jeopardize World’s Northernmost Research Station

News Briefing: 19 April 2023

Research stations high above the Arctic circle are experiencing record-breaking temperatures that make it increasingly difficult to collect snow and ice data before it melts entirely. At Ny Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago, scientists hoping to harvest ice cores are finding glaciers saturated with pools of water, erasing hundreds to thousands of years of frozen climate records preserved in the ice. Increasingly early springtime snowmelt leaves more remote sites difficult to reach, preventing snowmobiles from crossing the exposed rocks and soil; fjords that previously froze during the dark Arctic winter for easy transport have become too dangerous to use, or even remain entirely open water Temperatures in Svalbard are rising up to seven times faster than the global average, with last summer the hottest on record. This extreme warming damages buildings due to permafrost thaw, increases the frequency of polar bear encounters in settled areas, and poses an urgent threat to both local communities and visiting researchers who rely on stable conditions to safely travel and work.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-change-svalbard-ice/