Global warming in Arctic almost four times faster than worldwide

For a study, scientists from Norway and Finland examined four temperature data sets that have been collected by satellite in the Arctic since 1979. They found that the warming in the region is progressing faster than previously assumed. The temperature in the Arctic has risen almost four times as fast as the global average over the past 40 years.

On average, the Arctic is warming by 0.75 degrees per decade, according to data published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth

For example, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2019 stated that warming is progressing around twice as fast as the global average. This is due to a phenomenon known as "Arctic amplification". When ice and snow, which normally reflect sunlight, melt into seawater, there is an amplifying effect as the dark water absorbs the sunlight's heat.

The results were "somewhat surprising" because they were so much higher than previous data, co-author Antti Lipponen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute told AFP. He spoke out in favor of putting the climate models to the test.

The researchers themselves attribute their even higher estimate to the strong and sustained Arctic warming on the one hand, but also to their definition of the Arctic and the calculation period on the other: They defined the Arctic as the entire area that is located within the Arctic Circle. The rate of warming was calculated from 1979, the year when more detailed and therefore more reliable satellite images became available.

The strong warming of the Arctic has global consequences. In particular, scientists warn of a melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which could result in a rise in sea levels of around six meters. "Climate change is man-made," Lipponen said. "Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all."

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