Why is the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the globe?

🧊🔥 Scientists have found that this rapid acceleration of temperature in the Arctic is caused by a combination of factors, including greenhouse gas emissions, loss of sea ice and changes in climate systems.

☠️💨 Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are released into the atmosphere by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels or intensive agriculture, creating a "greenhouse effect" that traps heat at the Earth's surface.

🧊☀️ The loss of sea ice in the Arctic is also a major factor in the warming of the region. Normally this sea ice reflects sunlight, which helps cool the Earth's surface. But when it melts, the uncovered ocean surface absorbs light and heat, causing temperatures to rise.

⛈ Finally, Arctic weather systems are changing, causing large temperature swings and intensifying winter storms. Westerly winds are being disrupted, causing shifts in warm and cold air masses.

🐋 These changes in weather systems affect temperature patterns and ocean currents. All of this disrupts the migrations of animal species and changes the living conditions for coastal communities and local people who depend on marine resources for their livelihoods.

🔥 The rapid warming of the Arctic has serious consequences:

👉 - for the region's ecosystems, as well as for the local communities and living species that depend on them.

👉 - on a global level because the melting of the region's glaciers is causing a global rise in sea levels. According to the IPCC, sea level has risen by 20 cm since 1900, and the rate of rise has almost tripled since 1990. Scenarios predict an additional 40 to 85 cm of rise by the end of the century, which will be dramatic for a large part of the world's coastal population.

Scientists have also found that global warming is causing boreal coniferous forests to migrate northward, invading areas of Arctic tundra that have not been forested since the Ice Age.

🚨 It is therefore crucial that governments around the world take rapid action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize climate systems to preserve the Arctic and its environment.