Latest news with #TwilaMoon
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump wants Greenland. But much of the island is vanishing
President Donald Trump has set his sights on Greenland — even as Greenlanders insist they do not want to be a part of the United States. While the president says he wants the territory for 'national security' purposes, his ambition ignores an inconvenient and increasingly concerning truth. The Greenland ice sheet, which makes up most of the autonomous Denmark territory, is rapidly melting and cracking, with global consequences. 'Picture yourself pouring a liter of water into the ocean, the stream quickly disappearing into the surf. Now imagine every person on Earth, all 8.025 billion of us, adding a liter of water to the ocean every 15 minutes, day in and day out, for the last 22 years,' wrote Dr. Twila Moon, the deputy lead scientist and science communication liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. 'The steady and substantial influx of freshwater would change the ocean's salt content, alter current patterns, and raise sea levels. This is what's happening as the Greenland Ice Sheet shrinks.' The more than 656,000-mile sheet — an area about three times the size of Texas — is nearly two miles thick, and contains about 696,000 cubic miles of ice. Like the Antarctic ice sheet, the mass helps to reflect solar energy and cool the planet. It also serves as a global water tower, keeping fresh water frozen. The more fresh water that's dumped into the ocean, the more currents that rely on a delicate balance of density, temperatures, and salinity can slow. Ocean circulation also helps to regulate the planet's climate and is critical for the survival of marine life. Slowing currents can result in ocean warming and sea level rise — up to 23 feet in this case. But, the oceans are already warming due to human-caused climate change and the fossil fuel industry that backed the president's 2024 campaign. The greenhouse gases oil and gas companies emit heat the planet's atmosphere. The ocean, which is one of Earth's largest carbon sinks, takes in most of that heat and is acidifying with harmful effects to corals and shellfish, as it absorbs the polluting carbon dioxide that humans release. The Arctic is warming at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. And, the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than Antarctica's sheet. There is research to suggest that the entire Greenland Ice Sheet could melt by the year 3,000 if the world maintains its current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said. Protecting the Greenland ice sheet from climate change is critical, Moon and scientists say. But, it also needs to be protected from other possible threats. Notably, as the sheet melts more avenues are opening up for shipping and mining. And, Greenland could be a rich source of rare earth minerals, like those Trump seeks from Ukraine. Those include zinc, lead, and gold, according to the D.C.-based Brookings Institution. The U.S. Congressional Research Service estimated that the Arctic contains one trillion dollars' worth of precious metals and minerals. Valuable metals are found in the deep seabed, according to the Columbia Climate School. While contracts have been approved for seabed exploration, mining the ocean floor could cause serious harm to marine ecosystems. The Arctic also holds 13 percent of undiscovered gas resources and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas, according to an estimate from the United States Geological Survey, which is mostly offshore. American oil companies have been exploring the possibility of drilling there for years. However, as Oil & Gas Watch points out, there are no roads or pipelines and the weather can be deadly. Just four years ago, Greenland's parliament passed legislation that banned uranium mining and voted to stop all exploration for oil and gas on the island. Most of Greenland's residents are Inuit, and they live along the coasts. Ice is a major part of their lives. "Everything we do involves the ocean and sea ice, which is highly affected by climate change," Natasha Simonee, a member of the Inuit community in Pond Inlet, told the BBC in 2021. They've had to contend with other outside interests, including the Australian mining company Energy Transition Minerals Ltd. They have been looking to construct a uranium mine near the town of Narsaq for years. Residents worry about the mining company's plans and possible environmental and health impacts. The fight for Greenland's mineral wealth could be just as stressful. "There is a lot of potential to make money from the ice sheet in terms of these minerals, that is no question," Joerg Schaefer, a climate geochemist at the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told Newsweek. "But the land of Greenland belongs to the Greenland people. How can it be legal that a bunch of billionaires go in and steal the minerals from a land that is not theirs?"
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump wants Greenland. But much of the island is vanishing
President Donald Trump has set his sights on Greenland — even as Greenlanders insist they do not want to be a part of the United States. While the president says he wants the territory for 'national security' purposes, his ambition ignores an inconvenient and increasingly concerning truth. The Greenland ice sheet, which makes up most of the autonomous Denmark territory, is rapidly melting and cracking, with global consequences. 'Picture yourself pouring a liter of water into the ocean, the stream quickly disappearing into the surf. Now imagine every person on Earth, all 8.025 billion of us, adding a liter of water to the ocean every 15 minutes, day in and day out, for the last 22 years,' wrote Dr. Twila Moon, the deputy lead scientist and science communication liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. 'The steady and substantial influx of freshwater would change the ocean's salt content, alter current patterns, and raise sea levels. This is what's happening as the Greenland Ice Sheet shrinks.' The more than 656,000-mile sheet — an area about three times the size of Texas — is nearly two miles thick, and contains about 696,000 cubic miles of ice. Like the Antarctic ice sheet, the mass helps to reflect solar energy and cool the planet. It also serves as a global water tower, keeping fresh water frozen. The more fresh water that's dumped into the ocean, the more currents that rely on a delicate balance of density, temperatures, and salinity can slow. Ocean circulation also helps to regulate the planet's climate and is critical for the survival of marine life. Slowing currents can result in ocean warming and sea level rise — up to 23 feet in this case. But, the oceans are already warming due to human-caused climate change and the fossil fuel industry that backed the president's 2024 campaign. The greenhouse gases oil and gas companies emit heat the planet's atmosphere. The ocean, which is one of Earth's largest carbon sinks, takes in most of that heat and is acidifying with harmful effects to corals and shellfish, as it absorbs the polluting carbon dioxide that humans release. The Arctic is warming at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. And, the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than Antarctica's sheet. There is research to suggest that the entire Greenland Ice Sheet could melt by the year 3,000 if the world maintains its current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said. Protecting the Greenland ice sheet from climate change is critical, Moon and scientists say. But, it also needs to be protected from other possible threats. Notably, as the sheet melts more avenues are opening up for shipping and mining. And, Greenland could be a rich source of rare earth minerals, like those Trump seeks from Ukraine. Those include zinc, lead, and gold, according to the D.C.-based Brookings Institution. The U.S. Congressional Research Service estimated that the Arctic contains one trillion dollars' worth of precious metals and minerals. Valuable metals are found in the deep seabed, according to the Columbia Climate School. While contracts have been approved for seabed exploration, mining the ocean floor could cause serious harm to marine ecosystems. The Arctic also holds 13 percent of undiscovered gas resources and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas, according to an estimate from the United States Geological Survey, which is mostly offshore. American oil companies have been exploring the possibility of drilling there for years. However, as Oil & Gas Watch points out, there are no roads or pipelines and the weather can be deadly. Just four years ago, Greenland's parliament passed legislation that banned uranium mining and voted to stop all exploration for oil and gas on the island. Most of Greenland's residents are Inuit, and they live along the coasts. Ice is a major part of their lives. "Everything we do involves the ocean and sea ice, which is highly affected by climate change," Natasha Simonee, a member of the Inuit community in Pond Inlet, told the BBC in 2021. They've had to contend with other outside interests, including the Australian mining company Energy Transition Minerals Ltd. They have been l ooking to construct a uranium mine near the town of Narsaq for years. Residents worry about the mining company's plans and possible environmental and health impacts. The fight for Greenland's mineral wealth could be just as stressful. "There is a lot of potential to make money from the ice sheet in terms of these minerals, that is no question," Joerg Schaefer, a climate geochemist at the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told Newsweek. "But the land of Greenland belongs to the Greenland people. How can it be legal that a bunch of billionaires go in and steal the minerals from a land that is not theirs?"
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists issue warning about the Arctic with massive implications for the entire globe: 'We ignore [it] to our peril'
According to the 2024 Arctic Report Card the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released, the Arctic region has shifted from storing carbon dioxide to releasing it into the atmosphere, per Mongabay. Increased microbial activity, thawing permafrost, and frequent wildfires have turned the Arctic from a carbon storage area into a net carbon emitter. In 2024 alone, wildfires north of the Arctic Circle released 42.3 million metric tons of CO2. The past nine years have been the warmest on record in the Arctic, with 2024 marking the second-warmest year since 1900. These temperatures are causing the permafrost — permanently frozen ground that stores more than half of all carbon in Earth's soil — to thaw rapidly. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. "Think of it like a freezer," said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. "While that chicken's in your freezer, it's good to go for years, no worries. And as soon as you take it out, it's thawing, all the microbes are getting to work." This shift has far-reaching implications for communities worldwide. As the Arctic warms, it disrupts global weather patterns and weakens Earth's natural cooling system. "As we're heating up the Arctic, we're changing the way that our air flows around the planet, and we're actually making it easier for these blasts of Arctic air to come south," Moon explained. The warming has already affected wildlife, with migratory tundra caribou populations declining by 65% over the past two to three decades. September 2024 marked the sixth-lowest sea ice extent in the 45-year satellite record. "This landscape has been storing carbon for us for thousands of years, throughout the Industrial Revolution," Moon said. "[The Arctic] has done a lot of work of taking carbon up for us, instead of leaving it in the atmosphere." Scientists are tracking carbon changes using ground stations and satellites, collecting data from 200 monitoring sites. This high-resolution monitoring helps researchers understand how different parts of the Arctic are responding. Indigenous knowledge helps us understand and respond to Arctic changes. Canada's Ittaq Heritage and Research Centre teaches traditional hunting and harvesting skills while integrating modern technologies. "Inuit hunters are the original researchers of their homelands," wrote Sherry Fox and Mike Jaypoody in the report. "Observation, monitoring, and research skills are all integral parts of being a hunter or harvester." You can help by supporting organizations working on permafrost preservation, reducing your home energy use, and choosing products with lower carbon footprints. Even small actions add up when tackling significant challenges. "This is really a new and different Arctic," Moon added. "We ignore the Arctic to our peril at this point." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
CNN
13-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
The Arctic is in trouble. The consequences will be felt around the world
The Arctic has long filled humans with awe, but there are now profoundly worrying signals coming from the frozen landscape at the top of our planet, and scientists are deeply concerned about its future as the Trump administration pulls the US out of global climate strategy and guts its science agencies. Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows. This follows a year of concerning signs from the region, including intense wildfires and thawing permafrost pumping out planet-heating pollution. It paints a grim picture of a region that's been in rapid decline for the last two decades as humans continue to burn fossil fuels. The Arctic now exists within a 'new regime,' where signals such as sea ice loss and ocean temperatures may not always break records, but are consistently more extreme compared to the past, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual health check of the region published in December. It's a problem with global consequences. The Arctic plays a vital role in global temperatures and weather systems. It's 'sort of like our planetary air conditioning system,' said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Its decline accelerates global warming, increases sea level rise and helps to drive more extreme weather. The Arctic is the early warning system for climate change and the loss of sea ice is a clear sign it's in trouble, scientists say. It should be reaching its annual maximum levels of ice at this time of year, but instead it's experiencing record lows. 'I hope that these three months do not act as a precursor to a potential new all-time minimum this summer, because the starting point to the melting season is not good,' said Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Arctic sea ice bottoms out at the end of summer in September. The last 18 years have seen the lowest sea ice levels on record, a downward spiral that will continue, scientists say. The Arctic will be ice-free in the summer at some point by 2050, even if humans stop pumping out climate pollution, according to a report co-authored by Dirk Notz, head of sea ice at the University of Hamburg. 'It's basically too late to prevent that,' he told CNN. The first ice-free day could even happen before the end of this decade, according to a separate study published in December. Sea ice loss is not only damaging to wildlife, plants and the roughly 4 million people who live in the Arctic — it has global consequences. Sea ice acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sunlight away from the Earth and back into space. As it shrinks, more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the dark ocean, which accelerates global heating. Part of the reason for the recent run of record-low sea ice is the unusual heat in the Arctic, which has been warming around four times faster than the global average. Early February's extreme warmth 'was one of the strongest ever recorded,' said Rantanen, who estimates it was probably in the top three of the most intense warming events in the satellite era since the 1970s. The Arctic landscape is changing too, said the NSIDC's Twila Moon. The thawing of permafrost — a jumble of soil, rocks and sediment held together by ice — is pervasive, she said, releasing planet-heating carbon dioxide and methane. Wildfires have become more frequent and intense and wildfire seasons run longer. Last year marked the third time in five years significant, widespread blazes ripped across the Arctic. These changes are fundamentally altering the ecosystem. For thousands of years, the shrubby landscape of the Arctic tundra stored carbon, but wildfires and thawing permafrost mean that this region is now releasing more carbon than it stores, according to NOAA. 'There's just an overwhelming amount of change happening in the Arctic right now,' said Moon. What happens in the Arctic has repercussions across the planet. A warmer Arctic means land ice — glaciers and ice sheets — melts faster, adding to sea level rise. The Greenland ice sheet already sheds around 280 billion tons of ice a year, enough to cover the whole of Manhattan in a layer of ice roughly 2 miles thick. Rapid warming in the region also weakens the jet stream, altering weather systems that affect billions of people, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. A more meandering jet stream 'makes weather conditions linger longer, leading to more persistent heat waves, cold spells, drought, and stormy periods,' she told CNN. Scientists say some of these changes can be reversed if humans stop pumping out planet-heating gases, but on timescales ranging from hundreds of years to many thousands. Many of these changes are considered 'relatively irreversible,' Moon said. There's another threat, too. Scientists' ability to keep tabs on the swift-changing Arctic is being jeopardized by geopolitical upheaval. Russia's war on Ukraine has meant scientists from the country, the largest Arctic nation, have been excluded from international collaboration. This has already undermined scientists' ability to track what's happening in the Arctic, according to a recent study. In the US, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to government climate science jobs is creating serious concern, especially as many measurement systems are maintained by the US. With less US expertise and fewer US scientists, 'it would become much, much harder to understand what's happening' at a vital time for the Arctic, said the University of Hamburg's Notz. What's happening in the Arctic is one of the starkest indications of 'how powerful we humans have become in changing the face of our planet,' Notz said. 'We are able to wipe out entire landscapes.'
CNN
12-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
How humans have pushed the Arctic into a ‘new regime'
The Arctic has long filled humans with awe, but there are now profoundly worrying signals coming from the frozen landscape at the top of our planet, and scientists are deeply concerned about its future as the Trump administration pulls the US out of global climate strategy and guts its science agencies. Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows. This follows a year of concerning signs from the region, including intense wildfires and thawing permafrost pumping out planet-heating pollution. It paints a grim picture of a region that's been in rapid decline for the last two decades as humans continue to burn fossil fuels. The Arctic now exists within a 'new regime,' where signals such as sea ice loss and ocean temperatures may not always break records, but are consistently more extreme compared to the past, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual health check of the region published in December. It's a problem with global consequences. The Arctic plays a vital role in global temperatures and weather systems. It's 'sort of like our planetary air conditioning system,' said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Its decline accelerates global warming, increases sea level rise and helps to drive more extreme weather. The Arctic is the early warning system for climate change and the loss of sea ice is a clear sign it's in trouble, scientists say. It should be reaching its annual maximum levels of ice at this time of year, but instead it's experiencing record lows. 'I hope that these three months do not act as a precursor to a potential new all-time minimum this summer, because the starting point to the melting season is not good,' said Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Arctic sea ice bottoms out at the end of summer in September. The last 18 years have seen the lowest sea ice levels on record, a downward spiral that will continue, scientists say. The Arctic will be ice-free in the summer at some point by 2050, even if humans stop pumping out climate pollution, according to a report co-authored by Dirk Notz, head of sea ice at the University of Hamburg. 'It's basically too late to prevent that,' he told CNN. The first ice-free day could even happen before the end of this decade, according to a separate study published in December. Sea ice loss is not only damaging to wildlife, plants and the roughly 4 million people who live in the Arctic — it has global consequences. Sea ice acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sunlight away from the Earth and back into space. As it shrinks, more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the dark ocean, which accelerates global heating. Part of the reason for the recent run of record-low sea ice is the unusual heat in the Arctic, which has been warming around four times faster than the global average. Early February's extreme warmth 'was one of the strongest ever recorded,' said Rantanen, who estimates it was probably in the top three of the most intense warming events in the satellite era since the 1970s. The Arctic landscape is changing too, said the NSIDC's Twila Moon. The thawing of permafrost — a jumble of soil, rocks and sediment held together by ice — is pervasive, she said, releasing planet-heating carbon dioxide and methane. Wildfires have become more frequent and intense and wildfire seasons run longer. Last year marked the third time in five years significant, widespread blazes ripped across the Arctic. These changes are fundamentally altering the ecosystem. For thousands of years, the shrubby landscape of the Arctic tundra stored carbon, but wildfires and thawing permafrost mean that this region is now releasing more carbon than it stores, according to NOAA. 'There's just an overwhelming amount of change happening in the Arctic right now,' said Moon. What happens in the Arctic has repercussions across the planet. A warmer Arctic means land ice — glaciers and ice sheets — melts faster, adding to sea level rise. The Greenland ice sheet already sheds around 280 billion tons of ice a year, enough to cover the whole of Manhattan in a layer of ice roughly 2 miles thick. Rapid warming in the region also weakens the jet stream, altering weather systems that affect billions of people, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. A more meandering jet stream 'makes weather conditions linger longer, leading to more persistent heat waves, cold spells, drought, and stormy periods,' she told CNN. Scientists say some of these changes can be reversed if humans stop pumping out planet-heating gases, but on timescales ranging from hundreds of years to many thousands. Many of these changes are considered 'relatively irreversible,' Moon said. There's another threat, too. Scientists' ability to keep tabs on the swift-changing Arctic is being jeopardized by geopolitical upheaval. Russia's war on Ukraine has meant scientists from the country, the largest Arctic nation, have been excluded from international collaboration. This has already undermined scientists' ability to track what's happening in the Arctic, according to a recent study. In the US, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to government climate science jobs is creating serious concern, especially as many measurement systems are maintained by the US. With less US expertise and fewer US scientists, 'it would become much, much harder to understand what's happening' at a vital time for the Arctic, said the University of Hamburg's Notz. What's happening in the Arctic is one of the starkest indications of 'how powerful we humans have become in changing the face of our planet,' Notz said. 'We are able to wipe out entire landscapes.'
