Survey: 80% of asset managers, asset owners see sustainability as path for pursuing growth opportunities
A majority (80%) of asset managers and asset owners see sustainability as a path for ...
NOAA: Arctic becomes source of carbon instead of carbon sink
The transition of the Arctic from a carbon sink to a carbon source is one of the dramatic changes in the Arctic that are documented in NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card.
Climatic shifts are forcing plants, wildlife and the people that depend on them to rapidly adapt to a warmer, wetter and less certain world.
“Our observations now show that the Arctic tundra, which is experiencing warming and increased wildfire, is now emitting more carbon than it stores, which will worsen climate change impacts,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This is yet one more sign, predicted by scientists, of the consequences of inadequately reducing fossil fuel pollution.”
New research in the 2024 Arctic Report Card, contributed by 97 scientists from 11 countries, reveals record-setting observations that underlie ongoing changes emerging in the Arctic, which covers the lands and seas of the north polar region. They include continuing high air temperatures and wildfires, declines of large inland caribou herds, and increasing precipitation, including rain-on-snow events that coat the landscape in an icy shell, making travel difficult for people and foraging challenging for wildlife.
Observations also reveal stark regional differences that make local and regional environmental shifts highly unpredictable for people, plants and animals.
“This year’s report demonstrates the urgent need for adaptation as climate conditions quickly change,” said Twila Moon, lead editor of the Arctic Report Card and deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Indigenous Knowledge and community-led research programs can inform successful responses to rapid Arctic changes.”
“Many of the Arctic’s vital signs that we track are either setting or flirting with record-high or record-low values nearly every year,” said Gerald (J.J.) Frost, senior scientist with Alaska Biological Research, Inc. and veteran Arctic Report Card author. “This is an indication that recent extreme years are the result of long-term, persistent changes, and not the result of variability in the climate system.”
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