Understanding the shrinking Arctic
Event review: Arctic science
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| Elizabeth Morris - hands on in the field |
At a Cambridge and
Great Eastern regional meeting
Professor Elizabeth Morris OBE,
gave a fascinating and topical talk:
‘Arctic Science in the International
Polar Year 2007/8’. With an
audience of over 70 people, Morris
spoke of the damaging effects that
pollution from CFCs and the
burning of fossil fuels have already
had and will continue to have on
the Arctic.
As a senior associate of the
Scott Polar Research Institute of
Cambridge University and a
visiting professor at the University
of Reading, Morris explained in
detail how the size of the Arctic’s
frozen mass has been rapidly
shrinking due to global warming
and an increase in glacial melting
right across its surface. She then
expanded on the effects of Arctic
fresh water ice melting into the
sea, explaining how it is
impacting tidal f lows and
diluting the sea’s salinity levels,
thereby altering ecosystems and
weather systems.
‘Even though we are
experiencing the cooler La Niña climate cycle, we have still
recorded five record temperatures
in the past two years. As we move
from La Niña to the warmer El
Niño, Morris predicted record
temperatures across the globe.’
Morris alluded to the faint
hope that the increased levels of
snow precipitation that would
ordinarily arise from raised
temperatures due to global
warming, may actually slow down
the rate of change in the Arctic.
The reduction in ice in the
Arctic has had more than just
environmental consequences, and
Morris’ presentation described
how politics and economics have
also been affected, with
governments now looking closer
than ever at the ownership rights
of the Arctic passage and its
potential for natural resources
and shipping routes.
This talk covered many issues
close to the heart of the general
public and scientists alike. It also
proved that the right topic will
draw in the crowds and that
science discussion in the regions,
represented by SCI’s Regional
Groups, is still strong, relevant
and well supported.
SCI’s Cambridge and Great Eastern
Regional Group
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