Extreme diver plunges beneath melting ice to observe our a warming Arctic | The Nature of Things Under Thin Ice follows Canadian extreme divers and cinematographers Jill Heinerth and Mario Cyr on a journey to investigate how Arctic wildlife is adjusting t
(Image by YouTube, Channel: CBC Docs) Details DMCA
Arctic region temperatures set record highs leading to low summer sea ice. Temperatures for the year were the 2nd highest since 1900. That fell short of a new high, but still a worrying trend: the past 6 years have been the warmest ever recorded in Arctic. “It’s really showing that we have a system that’s under duress,” said Donald Perovich, a professor at Dartmouth College and the lead author of the report’s chapter on sea ice.
Andrew Freeman: There has been concern throughout the scientific community that the approximately 1,460 billion to 1,600 billion metric tons of organic carbon stored in frozen Arctic soils, almost twice the amount of greenhouse gases as what is contained in the atmosphere, could be released as the permafrost melts. Warming allows microbes in the soil to convert permafrost carbon into the greenhouse gases which are released into the air and accelerate warming.
At www.nytimes.com
