The Polar Regions play a crucial role in balancing global climate – with the poles heating up much faster than the rest of the world.
The Polar Regions play a crucial role in balancing global climate – with the poles heating up much faster than the rest of the world. Yet, climate projections for these regions still have significant uncertainties. This is hampering efforts to curb climate change and deal with the effects we already see at play not only within the Antarctica and the Arctic, but also in Europe and the rest of the world.
British Antarctic Survey researchers are part of PolarRES – a new research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme to explore making climate projections in the polar regions more reliable. Over the next four years, teams across Europe will develop new insights on polar processes and adopt a so-called ‘storylines approach’. For instance, the research will explore how polar climate change will affect Boreal wildfires and permafrost thaw. If ancient permafrost thaws, more greenhouse gases will be released into the atmosphere, further contributing to a hotter planet.
“Both the Arctic and Antarctica are undergoing dramatic changes. There is a pressing need to understand the scope of these changes and the climate processes that underpin them. PolarRES will enable us to achieve this and provide more confident information about the future climate of the Polar Regions. In doing so, it will empower communities in these regions, and society at large, to respond to future changes,” says Priscilla Mooney, climate scientist at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre and the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research, who is leading the international research team.
Read more at British Antarctic Survey
Photo Credit: Petra4711 via Pixabay
