This story was originally published by The Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Startling heat waves at both of Earth’s poles are causing alarm among climate scientists, who have warned the “unprecedented” events could signal faster and abrupt climate breakdown.
Temperatures in Antarctica reached record levels at the weekend, an astonishing 40 C above normal in places.
At the same time, weather stations near the North Pole also showed signs of melting, with some temperatures 30 C above normal, hitting levels normally attained far later in the year.
At this time of year, the Antarctic should be rapidly cooling after its summer, and the Arctic only slowly emerging from its winter, as days lengthen. For both poles to show such heating at once is unprecedented.
The rapid rise in temperatures at the poles is a warning of disruption in Earth’s climate systems. Last year, in the first chapter of a comprehensive review of climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of unprecedented warming signals already occurring, resulting in some changes — such as polar melt — that could rapidly become irreversible.
The danger is twofold: heat waves at the poles are a strong signal of the damage humanity is wreaking on the climate and the melting could also trigger further cascading changes that will accelerate climate breakdown.
As polar sea ice melts, particularly in the Arctic, it reveals dark sea that absorbs more heat than reflective ice, warming the planet further. Much of the Antarctic ice covers land, and its melting raises sea levels.
Scientists warned that the events unfolding were “historic,” “unprecedented” and “dramatic.”
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said the extreme weather being recorded was exceeding predictions to a worrying extent.
“The warming of the Arctic and Antarctic is cause for concern, and the increase in extreme weather events — of which these are an example — is a cause for concern as well,” he said. “The models have done a good job projecting the overall warming, but we’ve argued that extreme events are exceeding model projections. These events drive home the urgency of action.”
The latest unprecedented weather patterns follow a series of alarming heat waves in 2021, most notably in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where previous records were shattered by several degrees as temperatures climbed close to 50 C.
Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at University College London, said: “I and colleagues were shocked by the number and severity of the extreme weather events in 2021 — which were unexpected at a warming of 1.2 C. Now we have record temperatures in the Arctic which, for me, show we have entered a new extreme phase of climate change much earlier than we had expected.”
The Associated Press reported that one weather station in Antarctica beat its all-time record by 15 C, while another coastal station used to deep freezes at this time of year was 7 C above freezing. In the Arctic, meanwhile, some parts were 30 C warmer than average.
James Hansen, former NASA chief scientist and one of the first to warn governments of global heating more than three decades ago, told The Guardian the heating of the poles was “concerning” and that sea ice in the Arctic this year could shrink far enough to break a decade-old record on its lowest extent.
“The average sea ice thickness has been declining, so it’s ripe for large sea ice loss,” he warned.
“The effect of reduced sea ice cover is to amplify Earth’s energy imbalance that’s caused by increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) — the GHGs reduce outgoing heat radiation, thus causing a net imbalance that’s heating the planet.
“Reduced sea ice cover increases the planetary energy imbalance, as a dark ocean reflects less sunlight than sea ice does.”
Comments
Are we collectively, or I individually surprised! Not one bit. We are in an age of uncertainty with a lack of leadership around the world, dealing with a crisis we know little about other than it is happening. And what do my Conservative Party leadership candidates want to do! Well first, if erected, eliminate the carbon tax which is the most reasonable way to reduce carbon emissions. Second, pump up the volume of fossil fuels produced and consumed! This is Conservative leadership at the federal and especially provincial levels at its best at leading us down a path of no return, or no recovery , based entirely ideology that has become obsolete and has caused most of the dissatisfaction by increasing inequality in every way. As if privatizing every public asset and service, reducing taxes, will help alleviate global warming. If they were not so ostrich like with their heads in the sand, I would laugh, but it frightens me.
After being first made aware of climate change over 30 years ago I shouldn't be surprised. I am not surprised at this latest information. I am shocked!
The shock stems from two things: at how much and how fast temperatures have risen driven by record shattering heat domes -- not even in the warmest months at the poles; and the shock expressed by several climate scientists who are not normally susceptible to emotional expressions.
One wishes scientists had enough economic power to form donor and lobby groups like CAPP to sway, if not capture, governments and to dictate policy. Obviously we cannot place enough trust in politicians to do what is right and stop defending the maximum 8% of our GDP that is dragging Canada toward pariah status with respect to emissions and put more faith in the 92% that has the power to electrify everything and to start deep planning for adaptation.
We are not just voters. We are consumers. That is where much change can occur, literally on the demand side if we can't trust politicians to redirect society away from increasing or maintaining the supply of fossil fuels / emissions through policy.