Blog #7: Delilah J Kelly Unusual Weather: Arctic Sea Ice Decline May Be Driving Snowy Winters Seen in Recent Years in N. Hemisphere

Over the past winters we have experienced strange and unstable winter weather temperatures. Surprisingly this article points out the fact that for the year 2009 to 2010 and the year 2010 to 2011 we have experienced some of the largest winter snow covers in history. The Georgia Institute of Technology has been placing a large emphasis on the melting ice in the arctic. This issue has become a large issue resulting in cold weather in the northern hemisphere. It is also causing drastic changes in the circulation throughout our atmosphere, in addition to major changes in the atmospheric water vapor content. These changes affect the amounts of rain, sleet, and snow that are emitted into our environments. The Georgia Institute of Technology is working towards the attempt to improve seasonal forecasting across the northern continents. The concern is in reference to advanced ways in preventing the effects that stem from Arctic Ocean ice melting that the Arctic Ocean is experiencing. Researchers are reporting drastic temperature warming affecting ecosystems, while the northern hemisphere is experiencing colder temperatures.

Once again we are able to see ways in which global warming are affecting temperatures and ecosystems from different aspects of environmental destruction. Many times we forget the effects that our environmental destruction of oceans affects our environments on land. The issue here is an imbalance of temperatures across the northern hemisphere. This can accurately explain some of the drastic temperature changes we have been experiencing throughout our most recent winters. Overall the best way for our society to prevent and adapt to our environmental changes is to become more active in creating a change in the amounts of environmental destruction caused by humans.

Jiping Liu, Judith A. Curry, Huijun Wang, Mirong Song, and Radley M. Horton. Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, February 27, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1114910109