Abstract
Climate change will be the dominating subject of the twenty-first century. One of the consequences of climate change is the dearth or excess of water. Both do not only present imminent danger to many human beings but also present a major threat to the global balance. There is hardly any doubt that the current changes are unprecedented and likely to have profound effects. Glacier melting and growing precipitation increase runoff of fresh water to the Arctic Ocean which substantially decreases its salinity. The landscape of the High North is slowly altering, changing the unique fauna and flora of the region. The Arctic natural environment and human societies are deeply affected by the impact of climate change and similarly by the global economic development. Climate change is able to alter the nature and conditions of existence in the Arctic to a much larger extent than observed at the present time. This change impacts economy, health, the way of life, livelihoods and culture of the Arctic indigenous population.
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Notes
- 1.
See Jania (2012).
- 2.
See more on the subject in, among others STERN REVIEW: The Economics of Climate Change, or so-called Stern Report; see http://www.pl.boell.org/alt/download_pl/stern_shortsummary_polish.pdf (retrieved September 10, 2012), so-called Solar Report—CLIMATE CHANGE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY. Paper from the High Representative and the European Commission to the European Council, S113/08, 14 March 2008 (retrieved: May 02, 2010), or Werz (2008). Zmiany klimatyczne i geopolityka. Heinrich Böll Stiftung. http://www.pl.boell.org/alt/download_pl/Zmiany_klimatyczne_i_geopolityka.pdf (retrieved December 17, 2010).
- 3.
See more on the subject in, among others: Siergiej (2012). Ocieplenie—kolejny rekord za 2–3 lata. http://wyborcza.pl, January 27, 2012 (retrieved February 03, 2012); Drabińska, U. Globalne ocieplenie—Ziemia wiruje szybciej. http://wyborcza.pl, February 23, 2012 (retrieved February 28, 2012); Siergiej, P. Globalne ocieplenie—przekonanie rośnie wraz z temperature. http://wyborcza.pl, April 20, 2012 (retrieved: May 03, 2012); Ulanowsk 2012c.
- 4.
See Marsz and Styczyńska (2013).
- 5.
The prognosis of German scientists from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), which analyzes the present-day retreat of glaciers and ice caps of Greenland and the Antarctic, shows that within the next 100 years the sea level may rise even by 1 m.
- 6.
See Styszyńska (2005).
- 7.
It is supported by glaciological research of Polish polar stations on Spitsbergen. In 1980s, the work of Polish polar stations was resumed and research is conducted on biology and ecology of the Arctic. Every summer, since 1987, the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences organizes a research cruise of the RV Oceania on the waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas; see http://www.sprawynauki.waw.pl. Retrieved September 06, 2007.
- 8.
Such research was conducted, among others, by the international expedition headed by Prof. J. Piechura of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
- 9.
See the article in the section Climatology titled Sprawy Nauki. The Bulletin of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2000, 12, p. 2, http://www.sprawynauki.pl. Retrieved August 14, 2002.
- 10.
Since we have recently noted increase in freshwater flow to the Arctic Ocean from rivers runoff and glacial melt, it is theoretically possible, as the planet continues its warming process, that the decrease in salinity in Greenland Sea surface waters will reach the point where the water is no longer dense enough to sink and halt the Atlantic Deep Water formation, switching off the THC. This would cause an abrupt climate change and possibly trigger another ice age in the northern hemisphere, contrary to the so far observed changes.
- 11.
It has been observed that the air pressure differential between Island and Portugal, or the Azores, changes the climate in Europe in winter. When the AO index is positive, the air pressure is low and warmer, wetter conditions over northern Europe are observed. Southern Europe is then very dry.
- 12.
It is a microbial decomposition of organic matter containing carbon, or decomposition on a grand scale. According to Dr. E.A. Schuur of the University of Florida, permafrost traps twice the amount of CO2 compared to the planet’s atmosphere. See BioScience, September 2008.
- 13.
Permafrost regions occupy nearly 24 % of the land surface of the Northern Hemisphere, and include the Arctic Circle, Siberia, Canada, Alaska, Scandinavian Peninsula, high mountain areas, among others the Alps, and Tien-Shan.
- 14.
Methane clathrate (methane hydrate, methane ice, methane hydrate) is a crystalline solid that consists of a methane molecule surrounded by a cage of interlocking water molecules. Methane hydrate is an “ice” that only occurs naturally in subsurface deposits where temperature and pressure conditions are favorable for its formation. Methane clathrates were discovered only towards the end of the 19th c. and today there is some interest in using methane hydrate deposits as a source of natural gas.
- 15.
See Ulanowski, T. Klimatolodzy na lodzie. http://www.wyborcza.pl, February 15, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- 16.
Compare Walczowski (2009), p. 28.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
See Kubiak (2009), p. 56.
- 20.
See Walczowski (2009), p. 28.
- 21.
Prof. W. Walczowski claims that: “Of particular importance is the Atlantic circulation system called MOC—Meridional Overturning Circulation. It is a system of surface currents carrying warm, salty water polewards, and surface and deep ocean currents transporting cold water toward the Equator. People frequently call that circulation mistakenly the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is one out of a number of separate flow components of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC), part of what is popularly called “the conveyor belt” that serves to redistribute heat and salinity between different parts of the world.” See Walczowski (2011).
- 22.
See Ulanowski (2012b). It is of particular interest since the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has its minimum extent in September and the maximum extent generally occurs in March when it grows more than three-fold after winter.
- 23.
In comparison, in the 1990s, not more than 30–50 billion tons melted. See Hołdys (2013).
- 24.
See Hołdys (2013). Odwilż na Grenlandii and also, by the same author, Zaskakująca odwilż na Grenlandii. www.wyborcza.pl. Retrieved March 08, 2013.
- 25.
More on the subject in Arktiska miljöproblem under den nordiska luppen. www.norden.org, October 29, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- 26.
And, at the same time: “While the Antarctic for the first time became covered by ice caps 34 million years ago, the North of the globe became cold only 2.5 million years ago. 3 million years ago, sea-surface temperatures near Spitsbergen were between 10 and 18 °C (50–64 °F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0 °C (32 °F). In that period, immediately preceding the Ice Age, the average temperature on Earth would have been higher than today’s by only 2–3 °C, and tropical oceans would not have been any warmer than today, as if the entire warmth surplus had accumulated then in the Arctic.” Hołdys (2013).
- 27.
It is worth mentioning that some 20 thousand years ago ice sheet or ice cap covered most of the Northern Hemisphere, the climate was dry and the sea level was more than 100 m lower than at present. 11,500 years ago, when the glaciers began to retreat, we entered the human epoch Holocene. Today, as maintains the Dutch Nobel Prize winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen, we entered the “Anthropocene,” the epoch in which humankind has so altered the Earth that it led to disruption of natural global variations of the climate by industrial development and the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. See also Ulanowski (2013a).
- 28.
More on the subject in Ulanowski, T. Światło wraca do Arktyki. Retrieved January 22, 2013 from http://wyborcza.pl/1,75476,13271665,Swiatlo_wraca_do_Arktyki.html#ixzz2IgaYKxPU,22.01.2013.
- 29.
A British sociologist, one of the most prominent theorists of the modernization and “risk society” concepts. Politically connected with the British Labour Party, Giddens developed the theory, and policies, of the Third Way adopted and closely implemented by Tony Blair's New Labour. His latest book is titled The Politics of Climate Change.
- 30.
The former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, is undoubtedly the best known skeptic. In Great Britain, this trend is represented by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, author of the book titled An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming.
- 31.
As the research of D. Lawrence from the American National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder shows, warming signal of the Arctic Ocean penetrates south up to 1500 km inland; more on the subject at http://nside.org/frozanground. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- 32.
In turn, P. Siergiej writes: “According to researchers, the permafrost holds as much as 1,672 billion metric tons of organic carbon” See Zmarzlina wcale nie taka wieczna. Gazeta Wyborcza, December 07, 2011.
- 33.
Methane hydrates, or clathrates, a crystal structure, are a type of frozen “cage” of molecules of methane and water. Methane ice is white in color, and it looks much like everyday ice or snow. More on the subject in: Arktyka się kurczy w oczach. Złowrogie zjawisko, które nie pozostawia nam nadziei. Retrieved November 15, 2012 from niewiarygodne.pl, October 31, 2012.
- 34.
Methane easily ignites and burns, and it is not unlike burning fuel in a camp stove. The Japanese were the first ones to have extracted gas from offshore hydrate deposits 300 m below the seabed. The world's first offshore production test field is located 50 miles south of central Japan. The stores of offshore methane clathrates around Japan are sufficient to supply more than a decade of Japan’s gas consumption. See Ulanowski (2013b).
- 35.
Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled since preindustrial times.
- 36.
- 37.
- 38.
- 39.
- 40.
- 41.
- 42.
- 43.
- 44.
- 45.
- 46.
On January 12, 2009, the George W. Bush Administration released a presidential directive, called National Security Presidential Directive 66/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 25 (NSPD 66/HSPD 25).
- 47.
More on the subject in Sect. 5.3.
- 48.
See Inwazja obcych z Południa. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from http://wyborcza.pl/1,75476,13541663,Inwazja_obcych_z_Poludnia.html#ixzz2NJFH2TFp, March 11, 2013.
- 49.
As writes T. Ulanowski, “Climate changes already impact the Inuit inhabiting north-western Greenland. They were hunters, but now have to turn fishermen. They used to hunt on sea ice sheet, but today, instead of the previous six months, it exists for only for two coldest months in a year. So they have switched from dog sleds to boats. As reported by Grete Hovelsrud from the Norwegian Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, the disappearing sea ice in Greenland means also a more unpredictable and windy weather for the local Inuit.” Czy będzie wojna o Arktykę? January 30, 2013. Retrieved February 01, 2013 from http://wyborcza.pl/1,75476,13319294,Czy_bedzie_wojna_o_Arktyke_.html#ixzz2Jeu8GIDQ.
- 50.
More on the subject in: Arctic Social Indicators—a follow-up to the Arctic Human Development Report, TemaNord 2010:519, Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2010; see also Chap. 4.
- 51.
More on the subject in Drabińska (2012).
- 52.
In spring 2014, two additional reports on climate change impact on natural environment and people, as well as on ways to combat it, are scheduled to be presented by two more working groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- 53.
Research on the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, titled Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010, Climatic Change (2014) 122 and 229–241 doi 10.1007/s10584-013-0986-y, January 2014, Volume 122, Issue 1–2, pp 229–241, was published by Richard Heede of Climate Accountability Institute in the US. See http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-013-0986-y (retrieved January 05, 2014).
- 54.
All data after: Heede, R. See also Dwie trzecie emisji gazów cieplarnianych na świecie jest dziełem 90 koncernów. Retrieved November 25, 2013 from http://wyborcza.pl/1,75476,15004279,Dwie_trzecie_emisji_gazow_cieplarnianych_na_swiecie.html#ixzz2leKESHVv.
- 55.
Prof. Z.W. Kundzewicz writes, “We need to acknowledge the errors made in the IPCC report still bearing in mind that they do not undermine the fundamental message of the extensive document, for example the enclosed syntheses. As for the revision of the Fourth Report, my position differs from the one proposed by Prof. Turski. I am of the opinion that undertaking such tremendous amount of work is not feasible but, undoubtedly, the weaknesses of the Fourth Report should serve to improve the Fifth Report. So far, the list of deficiencies found in the Fourth Report of IPCC is short and quite unconvincing.” Kundzewicz, Z.W. Odpowiedź na list Turskiego (2010).
- 56.
Letter of Turski (2010).
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Czarny, R.M. (2015). The High North as a Part of the Global Climate System: Contemporary Challenges. In: The High North. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21662-1_3
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