We all know the world is changing and rapidly ever since the beginning of the 20th century. Population increase, energy resources running out and
global warming are to name a few impacting the future. Today the most detailed study on the Earth's warming trend and the changes have come out.
news.bbc.co.uk
The Arctic is undergoing rapid and possibly irreversible change, according to a new report prepared for the eight nations which rim the region.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment endorses recent warnings about melting ice, with perhaps all ocean ice disappearing in summers by 2060-2100.
The statement, to be published next week, also highlights concerns about raised levels of ultraviolet light.
It says the coming years will challenge the region's ecosystems and peoples.
The ACIA document recognises that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. It records that permafrost is thawing, trees are
moving north and some species, such as polar bears, are having to adapt their ways to survive the changing conditions.
Global impact
The report does not list simply the negatives that will come from a warmer world. It also says agriculture may become easier in some areas, there
should be improved access to oil and gas deposits and new shipping lanes will open up.
The ACIA document is the work of about 250 scientists and six circumpolar indigenous peoples' organisations and has taken four years to compile and
has undergone a rigorous peer-review process.
It is perhaps the most detailed study ever of how current warming trends are changing a single region of the Earth.
It was commissioned by the Arctic Council, the intergovernmental forum for countries with territories inside the region's 30 million square km:
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US.
"The starting point for the assessment was the recognition that the Arctic was vulnerable in many different ways to climate change, and also that the
Arctic played a fundamental role in regulating the Earth's climate," said Professor Terry Callaghan, an Arctic ecologist who helped produce the
assessment.
"What happens there is not just an isolated factor of local interest. What happens there has important consequences for the rest of the world," the
researcher attached to the universities of Sheffield (UK) and Lund (Sweden) told BBC News.
"There're vast stores of carbon in permafrost and in ocean sediments and if they get warmer, they could significantly impact the rest of the world."
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Some results of this massive investigation and scientific research are what we expect but there are suprisingly others that were unexpected as well.
What do you think? Was this research useful? All these changes are going to have an impact on the future, but maybe the more research we do, that
will also impact our future. The future isnt exact, but it also isnt unpredictable.