Search

In recent years, there has been a notable surge in lightning events within the Arctic region. This is possibly due to the ongoing trend of global warming that is particularly pronounced in the Arctic. This study focuses on instances of rare lightning activity in the proximity to the North Pole in the last decade. We hypothesize that these occurrences are linked to augmented land heating in Eurasia rather than solely due to the increasing temperatures in the Arctic region. This assertion is substantiated by model simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth's three poles, the North Pole, South Pole, and Third Pole (i.e., the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings), hold the largest amount of fresh water on Earth as glaciers, sea ice, and snow. They are sensitive to climate change. However, the linkages between climate variations of the three poles, particularly between the South Pole and Third Pole, remain largely unknown. The temperatures at 200 hPa over the three poles are the highest in the summer and are less affected by surface conditions, which could reflect large-scale dynamic linkages. Temperatures at 200 hPa peak the three poles during their respective hemispheric summer and exhibit in-phase variations on interdecadal timescales (10-100 years). The 200 hPa temperatures over the North Pole and South Pole were significantly correlated with the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), which transports stratospheric ozone poleward, heating the air at 200 hPa. Tropopause warming over the Third Pole was found to enhance the poleward BDC, particularly to the South Pole, linking the Third Pole's climate to the other two poles. Additionally, the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) also exhibits links with the 200 hPa temperatures of the three poles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With current scientific models forecasting an ice-free Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) in summer by mid-century and potentially earlier, a direct shipping route via the North Pole connecting markets in Asia, North America, and Europe may soon open. The Transpolar Sea Route (TSR) would represent a third Arctic shipping route in addition to the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage. In response to the continued decline of sea ice thickness and extent and growing recognition within the Arctic and global governance communities of the need to anticipate and regulate commercial activities in the CAO, this paper examines: (i) the latest estimates of the TSR's opening; (ii) scenarios for its commercial and logistical development, addressing the various transportation systems that could evolve; (iii) the geopolitics of the TSR, focusing on international and national regulations and the roles of Russia, a historic power in the Arctic, and China, an emerging one; and (iv) the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of transpolar shipping for local and Indigenous residents of communities along the TSR's entrances. Our analysis seeks to inform national and international policymaking with regard to the TSR because although climate change is proceeding rapidly, within typical policymaking timescales, there is still time to prepare for the emergence of the new Arctic shipping corridor. • A seasonal ice-free shipping route via the North Pole may open by mid-century. • The Transpolar Sea Route (TSR) is shorter and deeper than the Northern Sea Route. • Development options include transshipment ports in the Bering and Fram Straits. • The TSR's environmental and socioeconomic impacts could be locally significant. • Despite rapid climate change, there is still time to prepare for the TSR's opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the environmental effect of black carbon on warming the regions in the North Pole, particularly in the Arctic and the efforts of scientists in studying how much it damaged the global climate in 2009. It states that soot is composed of black carbon generated by diesel engines, agricultural burning and coal-fired power plants, which found its way into the Arctic region. It cites that scientists went to the Canadian Arctic to make some diggings in order to find evidence of black carbon, which caused yellow haze in the atmosphere and absorbed sunlight. It notes that as they absorbed sunlight, the air is heated, which causes the temperature to rise.

The article provides information on the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), the archipelago midway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. International interest in the Arctic was said to be emerging due to the earliest manifestations of climate change there. UNIS is said to have an annual budget of around 18 million U.S. dollars. Students might place thermistors at various depths in glaciers to be familiar about sources of heat.

The Antarctic and Arctic have always been critical areas of earth science research and are sensitive to global climate change. Global climate change exhibits diversity characteristics on both temporal and spatial scales. Since the Moon-based earth observation platform could provide large-scale, multi-angle, and long-term measurements complementary to the satellite-based Earth observation data, it is necessary to study the observation characteristics of this new platform. With deepening understanding of Moon-based observations, we have seen its good observation ability in the middle and low latitudes of the Earth's surface, but for polar regions, we need to further study the observation characteristics of this platform. Based on the above objectives, we used the Moon-based Earth observation geometric model to quantify the geometric relationship between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Assuming the sensor is at the center of the nearside of the Moon, the coverage characteristics of the earth feature points are counted. The observation intervals, access frequency, and the angle information of each point during 100 years were obtained, and the variation rule was analyzed. The research showed that the lunar platform could carry out ideal observations for the polar regions. For the North and South poles, a continuous observation duration of 14.5 days could be obtained, and as the latitude decreased, the duration time was reduced to less than one day at the latitude of 65° in each hemisphere. The dominant observation time of the North Pole is concentrated from mid-March to mid-September, and for the South Pole, it is the rest of the year, and as the latitude decreases, it extends outward from both sides. The annual coverage time and frequency will change with the relationship between the Moon and the Earth. This study also proves that the Moon-based observation has multi-angle observation advantages for the Arctic and the Antarctic areas, which can help better understand large-scale geoscientific phenomena. The above findings indicate that the Moon-based observation can be applied as a new type of remote sensing technology to the observation field of the Earth's polar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]