Arctic Warming has set New Temperature Record, says NOAA Report

A report on Thursday suggested that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world. As a result, populations of walrus have been declining in the region’s Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, it reported.

As the region is warming twice as fast as other places in the world, its ice sheets are melting rapidly and making conditions difficult for walrus populations to survive, researchers said.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the annual ‘Arctic Report Card: 2015 Update’, which reported that outlook for the region is bleak. In the last few years, air temperature of Arctic has increased by over 5 degrees due to climate change, as per the report.

Researchers say the region’s warmer air and sea temperatures are melting ice rapidly which in turn is raising sea levels. If ice continues to melt, it will be a danger to areas along the entire Atlantic coast, the researchers predicted. Arctic animals like Walrus, which depends on ice sheets to give birth, are struggling due to global warming.

Richard Spinrad, chief scientists at NOAA, said there are high chances that changed in Arctic region will be spread to the wider world. “The conclusion that comes to my mind is these report cards are trailing indicators of what’s happening in the Arctic. They can turn out to be leading indicators for the rest of the globe”, Spinrad added.

The report showed that the annual average surface-air temperature between 2014 and September 2015 was higher about 2.5 degrees than temperatures from 1981 to 2010.