Global warming is causing permafrost in the Arctic to thaw and sea ice to melt. As a result, coasts are less protected and are being eroded, while carbon stored in the soil and carbon dioxide are being released into the ocean and atmosphere.
Global warming is causing permafrost in the Arctic to thaw and sea ice to melt. As a result, coasts are less protected and are being eroded, while carbon stored in the soil and carbon dioxide are being released into the ocean and atmosphere. In a first, researchers at Universität Hamburg have now calculated the future scale of these processes for the entire Arctic. Their conclusion: each degree of warming accelerates them considerably. Their findings have now been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Erosion is destroying the coasts of the Arctic. The warming of the soil, leading to ruptures and slumping, can endanger important infrastructures and threaten the safety of local populations. In addition, these processes release carbon stored in soils into the ocean, which could alter the role of the Arctic Ocean as an important storehouse of carbon and greenhouse gases. They could also contribute to increase climate change.
Until now, insights into the magnitude and speed of these changes have been lacking for the future. Using a new combination of computational models, scientists at Universität Hamburg have for the first time determined them for the entire Arctic.
“We have run through a range of scenarios, depending on how much greenhouse gases humanity will emit in the coming years,” reports the study’s lead author, Dr. David Nielsen from Universität Hamburg’s Cluster of Excellence for Climate Research CLICCS. “According to the study, not only is more and more land mass being lost in absolute terms; with each degree of temperature increase, the annual rate of erosion increases – in meters, but also in millions of tons of carbon released.” If greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked or continue to rise, the rate could more than double by 2100, which would mean erosion losses of up to three meters per year.
Read more at: Universitat Hamburg
If global greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, the erosion rate on Arctic coasts could more than double by the year 2100. On average, it would then amount to up to three meters per year - in the entire Arctic. (Photo Credit: AWI/P.Overduin)
