Russia Warning: Moscow Could Sink Or Detain Foreign Ships In Arctic Waters Under New Rules10/25/2019
Steffen Olsen, an Arctic researcher with the Danish Meteorological Institute, and dogs set out to retrieve oceanographic moorings and a weather station over meltwater topping sea ice in northwest Greenland on Thursday. (Steffen Olsen)Ice is melting in unprecedented ways as summer approaches in the Arctic.
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In recent days, observations have revealed a record-challenging melt event over the Greenland ice sheet, while the extent of ice over the Arctic Ocean has never been this low in mid-June during the age of weather satellites.Greenland saw temperatures soar up to 40 degrees above normal Wednesday, while open water exists in places north of Alaska where it seldom, if ever, has in recent times. © GettyIcebergs floating in the sea in Antarctic Greenland.It’s “another series of extreme events consistent with the long-term trend of a warming, changing Arctic,” said Zachary Labe, a climate researcher at the University of California at Irvine.And the abnormal warmth and melting of ice in the Arctic may be messing with our weather.Melt extent on the Greenland Ice Sheet between April and October. The recent melt event (indicated by the blue line) appears to be the greatest on record in mid-June. (National Snow and Ice Data Center)Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the Greenland ice sheet appears to have witnessed its biggest melt event so early in the season on record this week (although a few other years showed similar mid-June melting).Related: Places around the world already affected by climate change (Photos). Sea ice loss over the Chukchi and Beaufort seas along Alaska’s northern coast has been “unprecedented” according to Rick Thoman, a climatologist based in Fairbanks.Labe said there’s sufficient open water that you could sail all the way from the Bering Strait into a narrow opening just north of Utqiagvik, Alaska’s northernmost city, clear into the Beaufort Sea. “It’s very unusual for open water this early in this location,” he said.With all of the exposed water, ocean temperatures in this region will rise, Labe said.
This should delay the customary fall freeze and will likely result in a historically low late summer sea ice minimum, typically in mid-September.Whether the Arctic sea ice minimum is record-setting, like the Greenland ice sheet, will depend on weather in the coming months.Related: Extreme weather around the world (Photos). “There is no indication that this year will be as low as 2012,” when Arctic sea ice reached its lowest extent on record, Labe said.
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“If cloudy weather occurs, it would slow down the rate of melting. It’s really hard to predict.”The extreme conditions in the Arctic, which have resulted in these record-challenging melt events, have far-reaching implications. There is a saying often repeated by Arctic researchers: “What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.”The bulging zones of high pressure in the Arctic, which have facilitated the unusual warmth and intensified melting, are displacing the cold air normally contained in that region into the mid-latitudes — like a refrigerator door left open. Much of the central and eastern United States have seen lower-than-normal temperatures in the past week.Temperature difference from normal on Friday as analyzed by the Global Forecast System model.
(University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer)The jet stream, the high-altitude current separating cold air and warm air, has taken unusually erratic meanders.“The jet stream this week was one of the craziest I’ve ever seen!” Jennifer Francis, one of the leading researchers who has published studies connecting Arctic change and mid-latitude weather, wrote in an email.
The ambiguous wording of the law has received backlash as reports have said any online criticism of the authorities could be seen as disrespectful.Head of the Moscow-based Sova Centre, Alexander Verkhovsky, said people could face prosecution for jokes about parliament.However, Russian officials have hit back as one lawyer said: “Soon we’ll be telling jokes about the authorities in whispers in the kitchen.”While deputy communications minister, Alexi Volin, told the Vedomosti: “One of the tasks of government bodies is to calmly hear out criticism of its work.”READ MORE.
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