An ice-reduced Arctic become the ” new standard “

file photo, AFP

AFP

Tuesday, 12 December 2017 11:54

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Tuesday, 12 December 2017 11:54

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Washington | the Arctic increasingly warm, where temperatures are rising two times faster than the rest of the world and sea ice melting at an alarming rate, are the “new norm,” warns a scientific study of the world released on Tuesday.

In 2017, the winter ice around the North pole is fallen, on its surface, the smallest ever recorded, said the Arctic Report Card, published each year by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The year 2017 has been the second warmest year since temperatures were recorded in the Arctic, ” adds the report, compiled by 85 scientists in 12 countries.

“The magnitude and pace of sea ice melt and warming of the surface oceans in the 21st century are unprecedented since at least 1500 years and probably much longer,” says the report.

“There are a lot of signals are strong and continue to indicate that the environmental system of the Arctic has reached a “new normal””.

The consequences of the ongoing warming are disastrous, affecting fisheries in the eastern Bering sea, damaging roads, houses and infrastructure due to the thawing of permafrost and increasing the risk of fire, the report said.

Even if less heat records have been beaten in 2016, “temperatures in the arctic continue to increase twice as fast as global temperatures,” underlines the report.

The scientists released the Arctic Report Card, which is now 12 years old, at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.