Climate Change: Can we Change It?

Click here for the Daily Expedition Report for June 26, 2016

Location: Burgerbukta, Hornsund, Spitsbergen
Highlight of the Day: ​Observing another calving glacier + humpback whales
What I Learned:

• Climate vs. weather → climate is long-term average conditions, and weather is what we experience today
• ​Without the Greenhouse Effect, the average temperature would be -18 degrees Celsius
• 93.4% of excess energy produced by Global Warming is going into the oceans, 2.3% into the atmosphere and the rest into melting ice and land.
• Sea level is rising 3.22mm/year and the permafrost is melting (Note: permafrost is not supposed to melt, hence the perma)
• Warming has not spread evenly across the planet- the Arctic is warming rapidly.
  
  

Amidst this expedition, we had the privilege of learning from Andrew Clark from the University of Cambridge. He is very knowledgable about climate change in the polar regions, and I feel humbled to learn from him while aboard the National Geographic Explorer.

History of Climate Change

• Medieval Warming Period from 10th-14th century
• Vikings colonized Greenland and North America and experienced extensive droughts at the same time
• The population increased in Europe during this time and there was massive clearance of forests
• Little Ice Age 1300-1860 → cycles of extensive winter cold and hot summers
• In 1780, the New York harbour froze; population of Iceland decreased by half; colonies of Greenland and Newfoundland died out​

There are orbital variations which cause an Ice Age- Ice Ages need continents to be in a certain position. However, orbital variations are decreasing the solar energy so we should be heading into another Ice Age. Recent warming is unprecedented.

Receiving less energy from the sun should increase the temperature. There is a natural Greenhouse Effects, but we are experiencing an enhanced Greenhouse Effect, or Global Warming. The Greenhouse Effects actually keeps us warm, and without these gases, the temperature would be -18 degrees Celsius.

I have discussed how the story is in within the ice, and it is through the air trapped in glacial ice that we can measure past CO2 levels. The CO2 starts to increase rapidly at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and CO2 is the main contributor to the enhanced Greenhouse Effect.

Recent warming exceeds the Medieval Warming Period. Think about that for a minute.

Key Changes in the Arctic:

• Arctic tundra vegetation is increasing
• Growing season has increased 9 days
• Increase and more intense Arctic tundra wildfires
• Dramatic decrease in Arctic sea ice, which polar bears depend on
• Coastal erosion
• Reduction in snow cover

Of course, I am probably not telling you anything you don't already know. My students often ask me if climate change is real- what if we are naturally entering a warming period? However, Andy talked about how we should be entering a cooling period, so the fact that the global temperature is rising is not natural. As Andy said, there is no debate that the climate is warming beyond natural variability. But if you already knew this, what are you doing? What are we going to say when our children and grandchildren ask us what we did about a problem we knew about.

Here is a short clip with Adam Cropp, National Geographic Naturalist, talking about climate change in the Arctic:
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Variations of climate, from the National Geographic Arctic Primer