This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When a blue-hulled cargo ship named Venta Maersk became the first container vessel to navigate a major Arctic sea route this month, it offered a glimpse of what the warming region might become: a maritime highway, with vessels lumbering between Asia and Europe through once-frozen seas. Years of melting ice have made it easier for ships to ply these frigid waters. That’s a boon for the shipping industry but a threat to the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Nearly all ships run on fossil fuels, and many use heavy fuel oil, which spews black soot when burned and turns seas into a toxic goopy mess when spilled. Few international rules are in place to protect the Arctic’s environment from these ships, though a proposal to ban heavy fuel oil from the region is gaining support. “For a long time, we weren’t looking at the Arctic as a viable option for a shortcut for Asia-to-Europe, or … [Read more...] about As the Arctic Melts, the Fabled Northwest Passage Opens for Cargo Ships
Arctic melting
Summer Sea Ice Is Causing Havoc for Shipping in the Arctic
Summer sea ice is causing havoc for shipping in the Arctic. This is the same Arctic sea ice that climate change experts predicted would have vanished by 2013. According to the Barents Observer:It is late June, but the winter has not abandoned the Gulf of Ob. The shallow bay, which houses two of Russia’s biggest Arctic out-shipment terminals for oil and gas, remains packed with fast ice. It has created a complicated situation, Rosatomflot says. The state company which manages the Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers, confirms that independent shipping in the area is «paralysed» and that LNG carriers and tankers are stuck. Global warming? What global warming? «The global warming, which there has been so much talk about for such a long time, seems to have receded a little and we are returning to the standards of the 1980s and 1990s,» says company representative Andrey Smirnov. As the Climatism blog notes, all this summer ice rather … [Read more...] about Summer Sea Ice Is Causing Havoc for Shipping in the Arctic
Get Used to Nor’easters — Arctic Warming May Mean More Severe Winters in the Northeast
As average temperatures rise across the planet, the frozen Arctic is heating up faster than anywhere else. With that warmth comes a surprising twist: Unusually warm Arctic winter temperatures are linked to bitter cold and snow in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, such as the northeastern U.S., parts of northern Europe and northern Asia, according to an analysis of 66 years' worth of climate data. And the relationship between Arctic warmth and severe winter weather was strongest in in the northeastern U.S. — in fact, a temperature spike in the Arctic meant that the U.S. Northeast was two to four times more likely than usual to experience a bout of extreme winter weather, the scientists reported in a new study. [The 10 Worst Blizzards in US History] Past climate projections predicted that, in a warming world, winters would be the seasons to heat up the fastest — and yet recent winters in the Northern Hemisphere were more severe than scientists … [Read more...] about Get Used to Nor’easters — Arctic Warming May Mean More Severe Winters in the Northeast
A warming Arctic could mean more extreme winters for these parts of the US
When the Arctic is unusually warm, extreme winter weather is two to four times more likely in the eastern United States, according to new research. It’s too early to tell whether the warming Arctic is causing this severe cold spells and if so, how exactly. But the study shows how global climate change can have ripple effects at the local level, close to home. Researchers analyzed a variety of atmospheric data in the Arctic, as well as how severe winter weather was in 12 cities across the US from 1950 to 2016. Since 1990, as the Arctic has been warming up and losing ice, extreme cold snaps and heavy snow in the winter have been two to four times more frequent in the eastern US and the Midwest, while in the western US, their frequency has decreased, according to a study published today in Nature Communications. The study, however, only shows there might be a correlation — not a direct causal link — between the warming Arctic and severe winters in the US. And it … [Read more...] about A warming Arctic could mean more extreme winters for these parts of the US
Freakishly Warm Weather in the Arctic Has Climate Scientists ‘Stunned’
During the Arctic winter, when the sun hides from October to March, the average temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around a bone-chilling minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius). But this year, the Arctic is experiencing a highly unusual heat wave. On Feb. 20, the temperature in Greenland not only climbed above freezing — 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) — it stayed there for over 24 hours, according to data from the Danish Meteorological Institute. And on Saturday (Feb. 24) the temperature on Greenland's northern tip reached 43 degrees F (6 degrees C), leading climate scientists to describe the phenomenon on Twitter as "crazy," "weird," "scary stuff" and "simply shocking." Weather conditions that drive this bizarre temperature surge have visited the Arctic before, typically appearing about once in a decade, experts told Live Science. However, the last such spike in Arctic winter warmth took place in February 2016 — much more recently than a … [Read more...] about Freakishly Warm Weather in the Arctic Has Climate Scientists ‘Stunned’