Hurricane Frank Heads North
A massive storm now centered near Greenland continues to drive Arctic temperatures above freezing, reports Deutsche Welle.
Hurricane Frank’s massive low-pressure system is pulling subtropical air towards the North Pole. Unusually warm waters in the Gulf Stream and powerful winds in the Jet Stream are fueling the storm, according to The Weather Network.
Iceland and the UK have been buffeted by fierce storms that have caused serious flooding and strong winds in northern Ireland and Scotland, destroying buildings, bridges and other infrastructure, the BBC reported.
In Longyearbyen, a settlement on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, temperatures peaked at 8.7C (47.7F) on Tuesday, warmer than the average temperature in mid-July for the town, the Independent Barents Observer reported. The Norwegian Met Office is forecasting temperatures there to stay above freezing until the weekend.
Meteorologists have said that the storm could raise temperatures in the North Pole to above freezing. The influx of heat into the Arctic at this time of year is unusual and temperatures there could reach 15-20C above normal and could last into January, said The Weather Network.
Shelve Bird Hunts to Avert Population Collapse
Greenland’s national institute of natural resources has recommended that hunting of the thick-billed murre be stopped for at least a decade to prevent the collapse of the population, the Arctic Journal reports.
The thick-billed murre is a cliff-dwelling northern bird. Birds in Svalbard, Norway and Iceland overwinter on Greenland’s western coast. The populations have been in decline in Iceland and Norway, possibly related to hunting and the illegal practice of egg-gathering.
The organization had made similar recommendations two years ago and said the situation had not improved.
A study published earlier this year looked at a colony in Disko Bay, the last remaining thick-billed murre colony remaining in Central West Greenland. That colony has seen declines of 72 percent since 1980, mostly due to overharvesting, the researchers reported.
Recommended Reads
- Al Jazeera: The Food Desert of the North
- Medium: What Happens in the Arctic Doesn’t Stay in the Arctic
- Associated Press: Climate Change Threatens Traditional Inuit Food Supply in Alaska
Top image: A pulse of warm air pushed into the Arctic region on Wednesday, December 30, 2015. The Image was obtained using Climate Reanalyzer (http://cci-reanalyzer.org), Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, USA. (Climate Reanalyzer, Climate Change Institute)