Svalbard Archipelago Confronting Potential 10C Rise; Avg. Temps Already 4C Higher Than 1970s
Isfjorden (the icefjord) northwest from Longyearbyen hasn’t been ice-covered mid-winter for the last 10 years. Svalbard’s climate is dramatically changing with average temperatures already four degrees Celsius warmer today than in the early 1970s.
Since 1971 Svalbard has experienced a winter warming of 7ºC. And worse will it be, states the new “Climate in Svalbard 2100” report presented in Longyearbyen on Monday. People in Longyearbyen have first hand knowledge on what it means to live the what likely is the world’s fastest warming town.
Houses are sagging as the ground underneath is melting. Stable permafrost is long gone for the 2,200 inhabitants up here at the world’s northernmost permanent settlement,1,300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle.
The report, commissioned by the Norwegian Environmental Agency, concludes that under medium to high scenarios, the annual mean air temperature on Svalbard is projected to increase by 7ºC to 10ºC by the end of this century. As temperature is crossing the freezing-point, precipitation will more often fall in form of rain instead of snow. This will lead to increased rain-floods and increased combined snowmelt-, glacier melt- and rain-floods, the report outlines.
EDIT
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2019/02/svalbard-could-become-10-degc-warmer
