I dedicate this essay to the memory of a long time friend, Gary Anderson (since kindergarten and Sunday School–nearly three quarters of a century ago) We both played trumpet in band, often playing duets at Christmas Eve and Easter Services, were confirmed together at Zion Lutheran Church, loved sports (especially the Chicago Cubs) played intramurals and pickup basketball and softball as young adults, both earned two degrees from Northern Illinois University, both taught in the Rockford, Illinois School District (different buildings), and for the past several years were golfing buddies. When he could no longer golf, he would ride with me and often helped me find my ball. After two years of renal dialysis, Gary left this Earth on January 10, 2022. Gary was like the brother that I never had. So long my friend but not good-bye for we shall meet again.
If you want to experience firsthand the greatest impact global warming has on the Earth, go either to the Arctic or Antarctic. But since most (virtually all ) of us must rely on second or third hand information that’s where I and other writers come in.
I will begin with a newspaper article from 2019 titled “Scientists set sail on Arctic expedition”, a year long journey by 600 scientists from 10 countries. The United States, France, Russia, Britain. And China are among the countries represented that departed the North Sea port of Tremsoe, Norway. “The Arctic is the epicenter of global climate change” according to expedition leader, Markus Rex of Germany’s Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Ocean Research. (For more about Alfred Wegener, (Baumer,L. see Essay III). That is the area that is least understood as far as climate change is understood.
What separates this expedition from previous ones is that MOSAIC (Multidiscipinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) is that researchers will be able to study Arctic processes over an entire yearly seasonal cycle. Sea ice physicist, Stefanie Arndt was especially looking forward to recording changes in density, size, and type of snow.
How much light snow reflects back into the atmosphere, how much it absorbs, and how much light reaches the upper ocean are all important according to Arndt. Energy from light affects algae growth and ocean temperatures, which in turn affects sea ice melts from below. Recent changes in these streams have allowed warm moist air from lower latitudes to move north and at other times chilly blasts of Arctic air, the polar vortex, have allowed deep freeze conditions to reach the U. S. and Europe (Jordans, F.) A follow up story about this expedition will conclude this essay.
Climate change is writing a new chapter across nine million square miles at the top of the world. Instead of the permafrost thawing gradually as once thought, it is thawing almost overnight in geologic terms. And as it does melt, it releases masses of carbon that have been frozen for millennia,to enter the atmosphere as either carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4.)
Now, for a little aside, and this is a phenomenon of physics. Light colors reflect light and heat. That’s why we tend to wear light colors at night (unless we don’t want to be seen) and during the day to reflect the sun’s rays away from the body. Conversely, we wear dark colors which absorb heat and light to keep our bodies warm. I loved to use a magnifying lens to focus the sun’s heat coming through the classroom windows on light colored construction paper and then on black paper and watch the black paper ignite into flames. I shouldn’t admit this but as kids we used to fry ants (dark color) on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass.
Now, aside aside, there’s a lesson here. As glaciers, ice flows, and snow melt exposing the dark soil underneath, warming of the affected earth proliferates at a faster rate accelerating global warming. This is a major factor and reason why the Arctic and Antarctic are warming faster than any other area of our planet.
Sergey Zimov. A Russian ecologist has been studying the mysteries of a warming Arctic for decades. Over the years he has helped to dispel conventional but incorrect ideas that the north even back as far as the Pleistocene ice ages was a desert of ice. However, a huge abundance of mammoths’ fossils and fossils of large grazers at Devanny Yar and other sites indicate that Siberia, Alaska, and western Canada had been fertile grasslands, herbs, and willows. As these plants and animals died, the cold slowed down their decomposition release and windblown silt covered them, locking them in permafrost. From past essays we found out that decomposition releases CO2 into the air; however, until recently when a warming earth unearthed them setting greenhouse gasses Co2 and CH4 free, no one knew how much was freed.
Now for the bad news; it is now believed, based on new evidence, that for every one-degree Celsius rise in Earth’s temperature (average), permafrost may release the equivalent of four to six years’ worth of coal, oil, and natural gas emissions, which is two or three times as much as previously thought. Normally permafrost thaws each Arctic summer and refreezes during the much longer Arctic winter. However, a crew in the spring of 2018 near Cherskey, Siberia found dirt that had never iced up over the winter. Three years ago, the temperature of the ground above the permafrost was -3° C (27° F) Sergey said. “Then it was minus 2; then it was minus 1. This, year the temperature was plus 2 degrees. A few days ago, before the group landed in Siberia, they were in Lakselo, Norway 240 miles or 386 kilometers north of the arctic circle where it was 32°C (90°F). In a corollary to the above discussion, warmer temperatures mean microbes feeding on organic material which also emits CO2. Lots of principles of biology chemistry, and physics interact to change our world, processes which have anthropocentric implications.
As permafrost disintegrates, buried ice melts too. As water drains, it carries heat that exacerbates thawing leaving behind tunnels and air pockets. Subsequently, the ground sinks to fill in those cavities creating depressions that fill in with rain and melt water which deepens the pools which grow to become ponds, and ponds become lakes which raises the ground temperature, which increases ice melt. Called “abrupt thaw”, this can trigger landslides and massive ground slumps.
Permafrost thaws result in greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas emitted. Methane is 25 times more potent. University of Alaska, Fairbanks ecologist Katey Walter Anthony who has studied CH4 emissions for 20 years published her findings in 2018. Her calculations suggest that lakes created by abrupt thaw could nearly triple greenhouse gas emissions.
As reported before, the planet has already warmed by about 1.6°since the 19th Century (2.8° F). Limiting global warming at 1.5°C instead of two degrees would expose 420 million fewer people to frequent heat waves and would reduce by 50% the number of plants and animals facing habitat loss. As the permafrost thaws and the growing season lengthens, the Arctic is greening up but the additional CO2 sequestration from more vegetation, unfortunately, won’t offset the negative effects of permafrost thawing. (Welch, C.)
Let’s pause for a moment for another aside, a lesson in secondary ecological succession. Everything I’ve written above changes the ecosystem of the Arctic region and that changes the habitat for flora (plants) which changes the makeup of the fauna (animals), decomposers, etc. But let’s back up a few steps and we find climate changes on our planet since Earth existed, but like a sealed aquarium that sat on a ledge in a high school biology classroom that I shared which remained ecologically stable for years , the Earth which was ecologically balanced for billions of years is horribly out of balance. And since we humans alone have the ability to suddenly or slowly change the world’s climate. we have no one but ourselves to blame!
To return to my succession story, snowshoe hares can find winter food, thanks to willows that are tall enough to poke through snow. Lynx which prey on hares have followed them hundreds of miles northward following moose which eat willows. (Welch, C) Many species of producers, primary, secondary, and even tertiary consumers (plants and other photosynthetic, hebivores, and carnivores) have had to “migrate” north or south (depending on hemisphere) to escape warming temperatures in more temperate regions. And now even the tundra ecosystem is warming.
The summer evenings were warm enough for the soldiers to sit outside with their shirts off. Is this a group of reserves in a high elevation training location in a northern state? No, it is a Danish military camp, Station Nord, 575 miles away from the North Pole.
The Arctic is part of a global cooling system and as rising temperatures accelerates the loss of sea ice, that system is breaking down. From spring into fall, the soldiers host a group of sixty scientists, support people, pilots, and engineers. The scientists led by Thomas Krupen from Germany’s Alfred Wegner Institute leads aircraft-based surveys that measure sea ice thickness, among other things. Observations are fed into climate models, complex computer programs that use equations and thousands of pieces of data that project climate changes. Other researchers dig pits into the snow to look for changes in structure while others use their instruments 24/7 while still others loft weather balloons. (Kingsley, J.)
The North Sea port of Bremerhaven, Germany
The icebreaker the RV Polarstern has arrived from its year’s long scientific study to the Arctic. “We’re bringing back a trove of data, along with countless samples of ice cores, snow and water” according to Markus Rex. Much of the information will be used to improve global warming models, especially those of the Arctic region. ( Jordans, F.)
Just when you think you’ve heard all of the latest hypotheses and theories about global warming, along comes another. This one is centered around ocean floor bacteria with a possible correlation with Arctic weather. When tiny (often microscopic) phytoplankton (phyto–plant like , plankton-free floating) die, their bodies sink to the ocean floor becoming food for certain bacteria. Then under the right conditions, the bacteria are swished to the surface and then lifted into the air by surface winds. Once airborne they may become “seeds” that promote the growth of ice crystal’s necessary for Arctic cloud formation. Previous research suggests that ocean microbes can enhance cloud formation. To test the hypothesis, Jessie Creamean of Colorado State University and his team set off to the Bering and southern Chukchi Seas and from late August to mid-September, 2017 collected seawater samples suspended 20 meters (66 feet) above the ship and measured the abundance of ice nucleated particles which can seed clouds. They also analyzed seawater chemistry and chlorophyll concentrations hoping to get a baseline reading of cloud seeding particles. On August 29, they measured extremely high levels. Using DNA analysis and microbial culturing , they observed that airborne particles were mostly bacteria, Powerful local winds had stirred the ocean bringing some of the bacteria to the surface where they could be kicked into the air. Over the years evidence has shown that microbes can brighten clouds, supercharge storms, and help stir up large hailstorms. Since Arctic clouds can be very low—as low as 100 meters, it’s very possible that they can interact with clouds. (Stone, M.)
References
· Baumer, l., (2019) lessonsonscience.com Part III, Constructive and Destructive Forces, Bluehost/ WordPress
· Jordans, F (Sept. 22, 2019) Scientists set sail on Arctic expedition rrstar.com printed in Milwaukee, WI
· Jordans, F, (October 21, 2020) Scientists return from Arctic with wealth of data on climate change, rrstar.com printed inMilwaukee, WI
· Kingsley, J ( Sept. 22, 2019) Eyes on the Ice National Geographic Washington D. C.
· Stone, M. (November 17, 2019) Ocean floorbacteria could influence Arctic weather
· Welch, C. (September, 2019) The Threat Below National Geographic Washington D. C.