Climate scientists are concerned by heatwaves that have started at the poles of the Earth, warning that they could signal a more rapid and abrupt climate change.
At the weekend, Antarctica saw record temperatures. Some areas were 40C above normal.
The weather stations at the north pole also showed signs that they were melting. Temperatures reached 30C above normal, levels normally seen later in the calendar year.
The Antarctic should be cooling rapidly after its summer and the Arctic should slowly emerge from winter as the days get longer. It is unprecedented for both poles in one day to experience such heating.
Rapidly rising temperatures at the poles are a sign of disruption in Earth’s climate systems. In the first chapter of a comprehensive review on climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned last year that unprecedented warming signals were already occurring. This could lead to some changes such as polar melting, which could quickly become irreversible.
There are two dangers: heatwaves at poles are a strong indicator of the damage that humanity is doing to the climate; and melting could also trigger more cascading changes that will accelerate the climate’s decline.
Polar sea ice melts, especially in the Arctic. This creates dark seas that absorb more heat than reflective, which further warms the planet. The melting of Antarctic ice causes sea level rises because it covers large swathes of land.
Scientists warned that the unfolding events were unprecedented, dramatic and historic.
Michael Mann, director, Earth System Science Centre at Pennsylvania State University said that extreme weather is exceeding predictions to an alarming extent.
He said that the Arctic and Antarctic warming is alarming. The increase in extreme weather events, such as these, is also a concern. Although the models have done a great job projecting global warming, we argue that extreme events are exceeding models projections. These events highlight the need to act immediately.
These latest weather patterns are the result of a series alarming heatwaves that occurred in 2021. They were most severe in the US Pacific north west, where records were broken by several degrees and temperatures rose to close to 50C.
Professor of earth system science at University College London Mark Maslin said that he and his colleagues were shocked at the severity and number of extreme weather events in 2021, which were unanticipated at a temperature of 1.2C. We now have Arctic record temperatures, which for me proves that we are in a new phase of climate change.
According to the Associated Press, one Antarctica weather station beat its record by 15C while another coastal station that used deep freezes at this time of the year was 7C above freezing. Some parts of the Arctic were 30C warmer than the average.
James Hansen, a former NASA chief scientist who was among the first to warn governments against global heating more than 30 years ago, stated to the Guardian that the warming of the poles is concerning and that Arctic sea ice this year could shrink sufficiently to break a decade-old record for its lowest extent.
He said that the average sea ice thickness has been falling, making it more likely for large sea-ice losses. Reduced sea ice cover can increase Earth’s energy imbalance caused by rising greenhouse gases (GHGs). GHGs reduce outgoing heat radiation and cause a net imbalance that is heating the planet.
Reduced sea-ice cover causes a greater planetary energy imbalance as dark oceans reflect less sunlight that sea ice.