The Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average. Part 17 In The Rest Of The World Is Warming Up Twice As Fast As The Rest Of The World.

https://arcticwwf.org/work/climate/

Without urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the world will continue to feel the effects of a warming Arctic: rising sea levels, changes in climate and precipitation patterns, increasing severe weather events, and loss of fish stocks, birds and marine mammals.

https://www.npr.org/2014/12/18/371438087/arctic-is-warming-twice-as-fast-as-world-average

Arctic Is Warming Twice As Fast As World Average

The latest word from scientists studying the Arctic is that the polar region is warming twice as fast as the average rise on the rest of the planet. And researchers say the trend isn’t letting up. That’s the latest from the 2014 Arctic Report Card — a compilation of recent research from more than 60 scientists in 13 countries. The report was released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Jackie Richter-Menge, a polar scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who collaborated with NOAA on the analysis, says the findings demonstrate the “power of persistence” in the Arctic — “persistence in the warming air temperatures and the impact that is having on this icy environment.”

That’s largely because of arctic amplification. Here’s how it works: Normally, snow and ice cool the surface by reflecting a lot of the sun’s energy back up into the atmosphere. But warming air temperatures melt snow and ice. “And when they melt,” says Richter-Menge, “they expose darker regions.”

Darker regions, once covered in snow and ice, now absorb more heat, like a dark shirt does on a hot, sunny day. The same thing happens when sea ice melts — the exposed water is darker and warms up.

Climate change worse everywhere than everywhere else