The Effects Of Global Climate Change On The Arctic

In the case of the Arctic over the past twenty-five years, biologists have been studying and have quantified how underground petroleum activities disturb the life on the surface. For the past thirty-years, petroleum geologists have worked to create less destructive methods of locating and removing oil. Typically people think of science and technology working together to better our lives. In the Arctic situation it is more a case of science versus technology. These two groups of scientists, biologists and geologists, have been pitted against one another. It is difficult to determine who to believe and in that decision, it depends on what one feels to be more important: nature or need. What we must also consider is who the funding for the studies is coming from.

Is developing the Arctic for oil and natural gas worth the powerful negative impact on the environment and native communities? The article published on September 20th, 2013 by Jennifer Weeks titled, “Future of the Arctic” examines the Arctic and the controversies within it. In the pro/con section of her article, Weeks asks the question, “Should the United States suspend Arctic offshore drilling?” Senator Mark Begich argues that the resources in the Arctic are too great of an opportunity to miss out on. Although Arctic drilling is a controversial topic, many people believe it should continue because of the financial and ethical circumstances; however, evidence to support this is lacking, which leads to the other side of the debate to be in

Forests control the amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere therefore contributing to global warming. However we as a planet have a problem… deforestation.

Humans have been interacting with the Arctic tundra for centuries now. They have used the land to explore and race, for example, the infamous race between Admunsen and Scott to the South pole. However, the human civilisation on the Arctic tundra have had their implications, both severe and light. Humans have slaughtered whales and seals since very early days, for food as well as commercial and self-profiting purposes. The most recent and paramount problem is global warming and pollution, which is harming the Arctic Tundra far more than the sealing and whaling ever did.

Climate change is going to affect the arctic more dramatically than other parts of the world. A study has shown that the average temperature has risen over 2ºC from 1960-2011 ("Climate Change In the Arctic"). Just a couple weeks ago the arctic was 20ºC higher than usual. Rising temperatures are going to affect the sea ice and glaciers, vegetation and wildlife as well as infrastructure. Of course these things won't just disappear quietly, they will take many other things down with them.

Environmental change in the Arctic has been a subject of recent interest within the discourse of global warming, climate change, and indigenous rights; however, scholars have yet to examine the importance of 20th century racial, cultural, and environmental interactions within Northern Canada. Specifically, the Northern areas of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba provide interesting and important issues that are critical to current discussions of global warming, climate change, and water rights and quality because of their location to the Hudson Bay and the intertwined environmental experience. Unlike other areas of Northern Canada, areas in Northern Quebec, Manitoba, and Ontario are subject to multiple political systems (i.e. provincial, federal,

As important as it is, Arctic coastal sea ice plays a vital role in dynamics of the coastline, covers stretches of open water which serve as important biological habitats, and serves as a platform for a broad range of activities by residents and industries (Druckenmiller et al., 2009). Sea ice is also important because it is used as a platform for harvesting seals and whales in spring, transport of personnel and supplies to camps, and as a network of trails (Druckenmiller et al., 2009). Dangerous effects of climate change include “ice breakouts” which are when large chunks of ice that whalers are using as working areas break off of the main ice blocks and take whaling camps out to sea (Druckenmiller et al.,

One man's trash is another man's treasure as the old adage goes, but what about when one man's trash is another species pandemic. Pollution has been plaguing humans for centuries, and as a result, the accumulation of this garbage has begun to significantly affect populations other than human beings. A striking example of this is found in Arctic Polar bear populations which as of recently are beginning to display some eerie side effects. Most individuals tend not to think about where their trash goes the second it leaves their hands, but it has to go somewhere. This somewhere is often times the ocean where the trash congregates and migrates around the world where it is consumed by the various species which dwell in its depths. The concentration of these toxins builds slowly within the various species that are exposed to it. Consequently, these concentrations increase as one moves up the food web, and at the top of the Arctic food web sits the beloved polar bear which bears the brunt of these ever increasing concentrations expressed through various health complications.

Have you ever wanted to spend months in temperatures that regularly are -30°? Many people cannot stand cold temperatures such as 32° even just for the couple minutes it takes while they are walking from their car to the store. In the story “Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling” by Andy Isaacson he discusses how the arctic ice is dwindling, what will happen as a result of that and then finally about his trip where he was able to observe it all firsthand. The sea of ice is unlike how most people would imagine it to be as depicted on maps, instead it is not all connected but rather it is many different pieces all just floating near one another.

As seen in different parts of the Earth, especially the sea, oil spills has caused a great deal of distress and complications. The risk of oil spills in the Arctic would be alarmingly high as technology has not caught up with the specific needs that the cold, below zero temperatures would bring. If an oil spill did in fact happen, the cleanup would likely be impossible. To this day, researchers at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) stated that there is no fast, effective method to clean and contain an oil spill in icy water (Panda.org “Arctic Oil and Gas”). Response in this remote area would likely be a reaction far too slow for the damage it causes. Distance on the firsthand to this area is the biggest key player, the Arctic areas that are undeveloped will likely pose for sites far away from civilized area. Being this far away takes supplies much longer times to get there. Ice acts as a barrier to get to areas in the Arctic, needing special icebreaker ships to break through the thick ice to get to the certain regions during the winter. This distance coupled with ice means it would take more than days or weeks. By an oil spill happening, more than humans would be damaged as animals would greatly be devastated as well. In the past, events like BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused over eighty-two thousand birds being harmed. A spill in the

The increasing global temperatures have caused many problems in Arctic ecosystems. The increasing warmth has caused ice caps to melt, and permafrost to thaw, causing shifts in the ecosystems around them. 1According to Harris (2005) “Permafrost is soil, rock or sediment that is frozen for more than two consecutive years. In areas not overlain by ice, it exists beneath a layer of soil, rock or sediment, which freezes and thaws annually and is called the "active layer".” (p. 17). While the melting of ice may not seem like a big issue at first glance, its effects are truly catastrophic. Many professionals in this field, such as Houghton (2009) have said 2“Warming is expected to be strongest in the Arctic, with the continuing retreat of

The world warmed by about 0.7°C in the 20th century. Every year in this century has been warmer than all but one in the last century (1998). If carbon-dioxide levels were magically to stabilize where they are now (almost 390 parts per million, 40% more than before the industrial revolution) the world would probably warm by a further half a degree or so as the ocean, which is slow to change its temperature, caught up. But CO2 levels continue to rise. All this affect the ice pack in the Arctic. As temperature rises, ice melts. This causes many problems.

1). While the growth of the Arctic discourse is now around the world, only a few countries are eager to act upon these events. The group is known as the ‘Arctic Five’, and the countries include the US, Canada, Denmark, Russia, and Norway. However, instead of these particular countries spending their efforts on saving the Arctic from a land with no ice, their efforts are on making the Arctic the next region to extract oil and other precious materials. Instead, to prevent the possible catastrophe of the Arctic without ice, the money should be funded into programs to eliminate main triggers of the Arctic’s melt, like preventing the build-up of gases in the atmosphere and limiting greenhouse

Kolbert provides compelling evidence of Global Warming in the Arctic from her hands-on experience accompanying scientists in the field. From the storm surges that threaten the Alaskan village of Sarichef to the warming (and even melting!) permafrost, the evidence all point to the irrefutable fact that the planet is warming up extraordinarily fast. In fact, the Keeling Curve gives us a rather explicit visualization of how greenhouse gases levels (CO2, in particular) are rising at unprecedented rates.

The Arctic is global warming’s canary in the coal mine. It is a highly sensitive area which is profoundly affected by the changing climate. The average temperature in the Arctic is rising twice as fast as elsewhere in the world (nrdc.org). Because of this, the ice cap is getting thinner, melting away, and rupturing. Here is an example of this; the largest ice block in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3000 years before it started cracking in 2000 (nrdc.org) By 2002, the Ward Hunt has cracked completely through and had started breaking into smaller pieces. The melting ice caps are affecting the earth and its inhabitants in many ways. In this paper, the following concepts and subjects will be