A new study finds that rising temperatures in Arctic rivers are causing them to become more
According to research, large Arctic riversbring significantly more heat to the Arctic Ocean than in 1980. River heat accounts for up to 10% of all ice losses in the period from 1980 to 2015 in the shelf region of the Arctic Ocean. This melting is equivalent to about 120,000 square miles of 1 meter thick ice.
“If Alaska were covered with ice 1meter, then only because of the rivers we would have lost 20% of the territory, "- said Igor Polyakov, co-author and oceanographer of the International Arctic Research Center and the Finnish Meteorological Institute at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.
Just 2°C of warming would release billions of tons of carbon into the soil
The impact is most pronounced in the Arctic, whereseveral large rivers flow into a relatively shallow shelf extending for almost 1000 km. In the open sea. The Mackenzie River in Canada is a significant contributor to sea ice melt near Alaska, but the state's smaller rivers are also a source of change.
Scientists expect an increase in air temperaturewill continue to warm up Arctic rivers in the future. As the rivers warm up, more and more heat will flow into the Arctic Ocean, more and more sea ice will melt and the warming of the Arctic will accelerate.
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