Canada experienced its warmest winter ever in 2005, and new information on climate change in the Arctic has emerged over the past two weeks. Scientists now say ice in the Arctic has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter. Satellite measurements of the Arctic areas usually covered by sea ice show that, every month this winter, the sea ice did not make up for recent losses due to melting.
Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the United States National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, told the U.K. newspaper the Independent, that unless conditions turn colder, “we may be headed for another year of big sea ice losses, rivaling or perhaps even exceeding what we saw in September 2005.” Then, NASA climate scientists reported that ozone pollution in the northern hemisphere appears to be a major factor in the “dramatic” warming of the Arctic.
Ozone plays several different roles in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the high-altitude region of the stratosphere, ozone acts to shield the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the lower portion of the atmosphere (the troposphere), ozone can damage human health, crops and ecosystems. Ozone is also a greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming.
Ozone is formed from several other chemicals found in the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface that come from both natural sources and human activities, such as fossil fuel burning, cement manufacturing and fertilizer application. NASA’s study of climate change over the past 100 years shows ozone may be responsible for as much as 50 per cent of the warming in the Arctic. That’s because many of the world’s most industrialized nations are in the northern hemisphere, spewing out ozone, which comes to the Arctic throughout the year.
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