The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded in the Arctic, according to a reference report published Tuesday, which paints an alarming picture of this region of the world, particularly subject to the effects of global warming.
This annual document from the American Atmospheric and Oceanic Agency (NOAA) highlights in particular the scale of the record fires that hit Canada during the summer, as well as the melting of the Greenland ice cap which continues.
Last year (October 2022 to September 2023) was the sixth warmest since 1900 in the Arctic. But summer (July to September) broke a record there, with an average temperature of 6.4°C.
“The overarching message of this year’s report is that it is time to act,” Rick Spinrad, head of NOAA, said in a statement.
“As a nation and a global community, we must significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving these changes,” he added.
At the same time in Dubai, the negotiations for COP28, the annual United Nations climate conference, faced blockage from certain oil-producing countries to include in a final agreement text an objective of phasing out fossil fuels.
Extreme fires and precipitation
Overall, the year 2023 will be the hottest in history, the European service Copernicus has already predicted.
But the Arctic, a region that includes the North Pole, is affected by a phenomenon called “amplification”, which means that it is warming faster than the mid-latitudes. This mechanism is due to many factors, such as the loss of snow cover and sea ice, or even the warming of the oceans, explained an expert during a press conference.
In total, more than 80 experts from 13 countries contributed to this report, published annually for 18 years.
They focused on changes in precipitation, which was higher than normal on average, but with significant regional differences within the Arctic.
Thus, the summer was abnormally dry in the north of the American continent, fueling the devastating fires observed in Canada. These caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and intense air pollution.
Conversely, in Scandinavia, extreme precipitation caused significant flooding. Heavy precipitation was also experienced in parts of Alaska during the winter.
The report is therefore clear: the Arctic is generally becoming wetter.
“When the atmosphere and oceans warm, there is more water vapor in the air, and storms come,” said Rick Thoman of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Adaptation required
Concerning Greenland, despite an above-average snow accumulation during the winter, the mass of the ice sheet continued to decrease, as it has done since 1998.
The report notes that a station at the highest point of the ice sheet recorded a record temperature of 0.4°C on June 26, 2023, experiencing melting for only the fifth time since its observations began 34 years ago. years.
The melting of Greenland contributes to sea level rise and thus has repercussions well beyond the Arctic. Its collapse would be catastrophic, particularly for coastal communities.
The report also contains a section dedicated to the issue of salmon populations, which are very important for the ecosystem and human activities. Another chapter is devoted to the melting of underwater permafrost, which has so far been little studied.
“As people in the Arctic, we live with these changes every day, and we have no choice but to deal with what is happening” and “adapt,” he said. declared scientist Rick Thoman, while calling for “global solutions”.
And he added, his voice moved: “Listen to the elders. This change has been happening for decades. »