Why the Arctic's accelerated warming is an alarm bell for the planet
'What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic,' says a conservation lead and climate expert on the accelerated warmth occurring in the polar region.
"The Arctic is being transformed in front of our eyes, and the people living in the Arctic no longer recognize it."
The current, dire state of the Arctic region isn't surprising, but it is deeply concerning for us all, especially when contemplating the aforementioned words from Martin Sommerkorn, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Arctic Programme conservation lead and Arctic climate expert.
DON'T MISS: Arctic receives worrisome failing grade on new report card
The Arctic recently received a troublesome and failing grade from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)––just the latest in a string of bad news emanating out of the polar region.
The 2024 Arctic Report Card shines a light on the record-breaking and near-record-setting observations that show major change happening in the region, including the Arctic tundra conversion from a carbon sink to carbon source, reductions in previously large, inland caribou herds, and an uptick in winter precipitation.
(top) Map of average air temperature across the Arctic from October 2023 to September 2024, compared to the 1991–2020 average. Areas with warmer-than-average temperatures are orange and red, and areas with colder-than-average temperatures are blue. The graph shows how yearly Arctic (red line) and global (grey line) temperatures compared to the long-term average (1991-2020) from 1900–2024. Data provided by NASA. (NOAA Climate.gov)
To further demonstrate how dire the situation in the Arctic is, World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada) said on X, before the publication of the NOAA report, the region is warming nearly three times faster than the rest of the planet, amplifying global heating, sea level rise and ecosystem loss.
"I actually think we [now] should really be beyond the point of chasing new records of Arctic warming and amplification, and we should rather focus on the reasons and the consequences," said Sommerkorn, in a recent interview with The Weather Network.
The Arctic acts like a 'refrigerator'
To better understand the acceleration of the warming in the Arctic region, Sommerkorn noted the region operates "like [a] refrigerator of the Earth's climate system."
SEE ALSO: 2024 is the new hottest year on record, first year to exceed 1.5C
"Warm water and also warm air from the south are transported there by ocean currents, and by our weather systems, and then they're cooled down in the cold ocean and in the shallow atmosphere near the pole," said Sommerkorn. "With more warmth coming to the Arctic because of human-caused global heating, the ice and snow retreats, melts and the cooling capacity of that refrigerator is reduced. So, the heat accumulates in the Arctic."
(John Pitcher/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
He said the Arctic warms faster than the rest of the planet, and in turn, also "increasingly fails" to cool elsewhere across the globe. It is a process known Arctic amplification.
For a long time, the Arctic was reportedly warming about twice as fast as the global average, the Arctic climate expert noted. But, with more recent analysis, the newest data has indicated the region is now heating up about three times as fast as the globe median––a 3 C-rise compared to a 1 C-increase worldwide in 2021.
DON'T MISS: Weather kept southern Hudson Bay polar bears ashore for record time
"Then, in 2022, focusing the analysis on the area just north of the Arctic Circle and on the 40-year period before that, Arctic warming was even shown to have been nearly four times faster than the global average," said Sommerkorn.
Aerial view of icebergs on the Arctic Ocean in Greenland. (Explora 2005/Getty Images-899103038-170667)a
"Once the planet has has become a hot house, some of this amplification slows down. But it is part of the climate system of this planet that heat is transported from the South to the North. Therefore, yes, comparatively, any kind of change in the balance will lead to those polar regions, [such as] the Arctic, to have an accelerated, amplified warming."
WATCH: Growing crater known as 'Gateway to Hell' now visible from space
Focus efforts on 'reasons and consequences' of Arctic warmth
With plenty of the climate coverage in the media focused on the streak of records being shattered from the unprecedented heat, Sommerkorn says our attention should be on the reasons and consequences of global warming, especially in the Arctic.
"This is really not a race. Whether you know that [in] any year, the Arctic warms a number of times [more] than the rest of the planet," said Sommerkorn.
He said people understand that the climate crisis is upon us, even if "they deny taking responsibility and action" for it. He said the reason why the Arctic disappears, in essence, is because of "mankind's insatiable appetite for burning fossil fuels."
(Максим Шмаков/ iStock/ Getty Images Plus)
"What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic. Of course, the consequences are also [within the] Arctic. The frozen Arctic vanishes, and with it, all the awe and unique lifeforms, the ecosystems, the seascapes and landscapes, and the cultures and home of [Indigenous] Peoples," said Sommerkorn.
The consequence of all this warming is the loss of the cryosphere, "a fancy word" describing the frozen world of snow, sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost in the polar regions, Sommerkorn explained.
"Unfortunately, this frozen world plays a huge role in keeping this planet habitable to the human race, our climate on an even keel, and also our sea levels in a position where we got used to having them," said Sommerkorn. "So, these are the real consequences of a melting Arctic that matter for the globe, really for us as a species."
WATCH: With El Niño gone, can Arctic sea ice recover from historic lows?
Thumbnail courtesy of Getty Images/Coldimages/135183496-170667a.
