Arctic and Arctic Ocean

The Arctic region is one of the first in the world to experience widespread and significant changes as a result of climate change, which scientists have largely attributed to greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. As the Arctic is a bellwether of potential global changes, including sea-level rise, surface air temperature increases, and community and habitat transformations, scientists and policymakers have sought to document the effects of climate change in the region and develop policies in order to head off the most dangerous impacts. There is also potential for economic growth in Arctic sectors such as oil and gas, tourism, fisheries, shipping, and forestry as a result of receding sea ice, permafrost melt, and advances in technology. The impacts of climate change in the Arctic have long-term global implications, including sea-level rise and potential disruption of the thermohaline ocean circulation system.

While there are many definitions of the Arctic, here it is assumed to encompass all land and water masses above the Arctic Circle, or 66.5 degrees north.

Increasing global carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, largely a result of fuel combustion for industrial, agricultural, and residential activities, are the main driving force of climate change, which is being experienced in the Arctic at approximately double the rate of the rest of the world. GHGs, which have a short atmospheric life span of days or weeks (compared to hundreds of years for CO2) and are also known as short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), are believed to contribute significantly to warming in the Arctic. Black carbon and methane are two key SLCFs that exacerbate the rate of Arctic warming. Black carbon, released into the atmosphere as an ashy byproduct of fuel-burning activities, can reduce the albedo, or solar reflectivity, of ice and snow, increasing rates of melting. Methane, which comes from agricultural activities, landfills, flaring during oil and gas production, and other natural sources of decay, has a much higher global warming potential (GWP) than CO2. Permafrost melt releases methane from the ground, and so as warming in the Arctic continues, GHG emissions are further increased.