Arctic | World Tech Today

Montana State University – A paper recently published in the April 30, Scientific Journal, Nature has reported that the Arctic and Antarctic regions may have a climatic association. The paper co-authored by a polar ecologist, John Priscu says that the climatic changes in the region of the Arctic can influence the climate in the Antarctic region.

It means if there are any sudden temperature changes in the North Pole, the changes also take place in the temperature of the South Pole.

The study was carried out on the inverse climate relationship between the North and the South Poles. It revealed some very important information about the climate changes. The information has provided the researchers a new viewpoint about the relationships of the Poles with the global climate.

It is expected to help the researchers evaluate how the climate of our planet will respond to increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

John Priscu is the head of the 28-man team of researchers and engineers and a professor of MSU’s Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences College of Agriculture. The team included engineers, scientists and researchers from all over the United States.

The research was carried out by digging ice core samples from the WAIS Divide, an area in the West of Antarctica. This area receives annual snowfall, is covered by thick ice and simple ice flow.

Annual Snowfall Traps Debris

Due to specific atmospheric conditions whenever there is a snowfall in the WAIS Divide it does not melt. It leads to the formation of thick ice layers on the surface, which is further compressed due to subsequent snowfall. These compressed ice sheets trap atmospheric gases, chemicals, microbes, dust and ice. These samples when studied reveal how the atmospheric conditions were in the past.

The researchers dug 11,200 feet deep in the Antarctic to get the core ice samples and compared its data with the ice cores from the Arctic’s Greenland. The analysis revealed that the climate changes of both Arctic and Antarctic regions were associated with each other.

A researcher from the Northern Arizona University’s Biology Department, Ted Schuur, in his recent findings explains that the climate change was also the reason that Arctic is warming rapidly. The increase in greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere is leading to global warming, but according to the researcher, this could be the other way round as well. It means that the warming of Arctic is seen as a cause of this global warming.

The plight of warming Arctic

The Arctic as well as subarctic regions, at present, has been estimated to have 1,330 to 1,580 billion tons quantity of the organic carbon that is blocked into the frozen soil. The researchers explain that there is a possibility that more quantity of this substance is locked within the womb of permafrost. The fact is enough to trigger serious consideration of reducing the human emission of greenhouse gases into the air.

The researchers explain that with the warming of Arctic, the risk of microbes getting activated will increase and this will lead to a release of methane and carbon dioxide in atmosphere, the quantity of which will be worth more than centuries.

Ted Schuur says that the question in such a scenario is that what quantity, how fast and what will lead this carbon to escape. However, his research answers the question, but partially. The study says that the release of carbon will take place gradually. This means that the greenhouse gases will find a way out in several decades instead of bursting all in just a single decade. If, at all, these gases release in just one decade, it will be a disaster that will not allow humans to curb the global warming.

The flip side to this is that there will be substantial sources of these gases moving forward, even if human emissions are restricted.

In the research, it is also explained that the present scenario of climate change can be attributed to the activities of humans only. For example, the study says, burning of the fossil fuels leads to a natural carbon cycle, which is trickier to regulate or curb.

New study says Arctic and Antarctic regions may have climatic link-ups

Research shows Greenhouse Gases emission also a reason of rapid Arctic melting down