Antarctic Sea Ice Cover At Record Low

Barrons – AFP, By Marlowe HOOD, March 8, 2023 

Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent in the 45-year satellite data record last
month. Johan ORDONEZ

Sea ice in Antarctica shrank to the smallest area on record in February for the second year in a row, continuing a decade-long decline, the European Union's climate monitoring service said Tuesday. 

On February 16, the ocean surface covered by ice around the frozen continent shrank to 2.09 million square kilometres (800,000 square miles), the lowest level since satellite records began, according to figures provided to AFP by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). 

"Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent in the 45-year satellite data record," said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S. 

US government scientists have also confirmed a new record last month but indicated an even lower figure of 1.79 million sq km, a difference Copernicus attributed to "different sea ice retrieval algorithms". 

Sea-ice concentrations during the southern hemisphere summer were well below average in all sectors of the Southern Ocean. 

Startlingly, the record lows this year and in 2022 are about 30 percent below the 1981-2010 average. 

"These low sea-ice conditions may have important implications for the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and ultimately for global sea level rise," said Burgess.

 "Polar ice caps are a sensitive indicator of the climate crisis." 

Melting sea ice has no discernible impact on sea levels because the ice is already in ocean water. 

But diminished ice cover is nonetheless a major concern because it helps accelerate global warming, including in the Arctic region. 

About 90 percent of the Sun's energy that hits white sea ice is reflected back into space. But when sunlight hits dark, unfrozen ocean water, nearly the same amount of that energy is absorbed instead, contributing directly to a warming planet. 

Both the North and South pole regions have warmed by roughly three degrees Celsius compared to late 19th-century levels, three times the global average.  

Antarctic sea ice at record low. Valentin RAKOVSKY

But unlike sea ice in the Arctic, which has diminished by three percent a year since the late 1970s, sea ice in Antarctica has remained relatively constant over the same period, albeit with large annual variations. 

Until recently -- over the last eight years -- minimum sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean has consistently been below the average for the 1991-2020 period. 

Antarctica encountered its first recorded heatwave in 2020, with an unprecedented 9.2C above the mean maximum. In March last year, a research centre in eastern Antarctica saw temperatures soar 30 degrees above normal. 

Recent ice cover during the austral summer has shrunk most around West Antarctica, which is more vulnerable to the impacts of global warming than the far larger East Antarctica. 

The record minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic -- 3.4 million square kilometres -- occurred in 2012, with the second- and third-lowest ice-covered areas in 2020 and 2019, respectively. 

In 2021, The UN's IPCC climate science advisory panel forecast with "high confidence" that the Arctic Ocean would become practically ice-free in September at least once by mid-century.

Great Barrier Reef sees fragile coral comeback

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew BEATTY, August 4, 2022 

Parts of Australia's beleaguered Great Barrier Reef now have the highest levels of coral cover seen in decades, a government report said Thursday, suggesting the aquatic wonder could survive given the chance. 

Portions of the vast UNESCO heritage site showed a marked increase in coral cover in the last year, reaching levels not seen in 36 years of monitoring, the Australian Institute of Marine Science said. 

Scientists surveying 87 sites said northern and central parts of the reef had bounced back from damage more quickly than some had expected, thanks mainly to fast-growing Acropora -- a branching coral that supports thousands of marine species. 

"These latest results demonstrate the reef can still recover in periods free of intense disturbances," said the Australian Institute of Marine Science's CEO Paul Hardisty. 

But far from declaring victory, Hardisty warned the gains could easily be reversed by cyclones, new bleaching events or crown-of-thorns outbreaks. 

He pointed to a reversal in fortunes for the southern portion of the reef, which a year ago had appeared to be on the mend, but was now in decline again. 

"This shows how vulnerable the reef is to the continued acute and severe disturbances that are occurring more often, and are longer-lasting," he said. 

Coral coverage has increased by 36 percent across sites monitored in the northern part of the reef, up from 27 percent in 2021. 

But the picture was less encouraging as the scientists moved south, with a smaller increase in cover in the reef's central belt and a marked decrease in coral cover in the south. 

The spread of coral-killing crown-of-thorns starfish has also taken a toll. 

Only fierce lobbying by the Australian government stopped the reef from being labelled "in danger" by UNESCO -- a potentially devastating blow to the country's multi-billion-dollar tourism industry. 

Many fear that the speeding rate of damage could cause the reef to be destroyed entirely. 

Marine scientist Terry Hughes said it was "good news" that coral was regrowing, but warned the species driving the recovery were very vulnerable to ocean heating. 

He added that replacing large, old, slow-growing corals that had defined the reef was likely "no longer possible. Instead we're seeing partial reassembly of fast-growing, weedy corals before the next disturbance." 

Zoe Richards a researcher at the Coral Conservation and Research Group at Curtin University also cautioned against over-optimism. 

"This recovery trend is driven by a handful of Acropora species which often grow in a boom-and-bust pattern," she said. "This means that the next thermal stress event could easily decimate these coral communities once again." 

"We are already finding evidence that each mass bleaching event leads to local extinctions of rarer species, so the short-term success of a handful of fast-growing coral species masks the full story about the largely hidden losses of biodiversity."

Related Article:

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....The Prediction: The Renewal of the Life Cycle

When you change the temperature strata of the oceans of the earth, things start to change, for the life cycle of the food in the ocean depends upon that which is the smallest. The plankton of the planet survive in certain temperatures, and that's changing. Throw away what you think you know about how it's all supposed to work, and instead think "renewal" or "how did it begin." This will serve you to understand what is happening now. This cycle is built to replenish the ocean with life and not always by sustaining the kind that was there.

Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth.

Within this process, there will be the extinction of certain plants and animals, birds and fish. My advice to you, especially to those environmentalists, is to understand the cycle of life so that you may relax with what nature has always done. It puts life on the planet to serve the planet for a time. When certain life no longer serves the planet in the ways it used to, it takes it away. The extinction of life, especially through weather change, is normal for Gaia. It is honored, appropriate and normal, even if you don't think so. Don't try to save all the disappearing animals, fish and birds! Some are supposed to go away. And, dear ones, don't assign all this activity to something you did to cause it!

The red people are stressing. The purple is here, and they are trying to figure out what they did wrong. They don't know they are in the Rainbow Room. They think they are in the RED ROOM. This is what the Rainbow Room does; it changes colors. So as the room does what it has always done, the red people are sitting there in fear trying to figure out what it is that they did that possibly could have caused the purple to appear.

The Rainbow Room is beautiful. The color purple is significant. Going from red to purple has metaphysical significance within this parable, but I'll let you figure it out. For those who are into colors, there's a reason why I gave those two. The earth is becoming more sacred than it's ever been before. Gaia is with you in this. It's cooperating in ways you never thought it could, in the way biologists said it would not. You think you're killing it? Instead, it's giving birth to an altered ecological system. ...."

Antarctica hits record temperatures, say experts

France24 – AFP, Saturday 19 March 2022

Handout picture released by Chile's National Antarctic Institute (INACH)showing
a view of Union Glacier in Antarctica, on September 14, 2017 Felipe TRUEBA
 INACH/AFP/File

Paris (AFP) – Eastern Antarctica has recorded exceptionally high temperatures this week, more than 30 degrees Celsius above normal, say experts. 

The Concordia research base at Dome C of the Antarctic, which is at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 feet), on Friday registered a record -11.5 degrees Celsius (11.3 Fahrenheit), Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist from France-Meteo tweeted. 

Normally, temperatures fall with the end of the southern summer, but the Dumont d'Urville station on Antarctica registered record temperatures for March with 4.9C (40.82F), at a time of year when normally temperatures are already sub-zero. 

Gaetan Heymes of France Meteo described the unseasonably mild weather as a "historic event". 

And geoscientist Jonathan Wille wrote on Twitter: "And there it is, Concordia broke its all time record temperature by 1.5°C. 

"This is when temperatures should be rapidly falling since the summer solstice in December.

 "This is a Pacific Northwest 2021 heat wave kind of event," he added. "Never supposed to happen." 

The unprecedented temperatures come after the National Snow and Ice Data Center in the United States said Antarctica's sea ice fell below two million square kilometres (772,204 sq miles) in late February for the first time since 1979.

Monster iceberg released 'billions of tonnes' of fresh water into ocean

MSN - AFP, 20 January 2022

The A-68 iceberg was one of the largest ever observed

A giant iceberg that detached from Antarctica in 2017 released the equivalent of 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of fresh water as it melted, according to research published Thursday, raising questions over the impact on the marine ecosystem. 

The monstrous iceberg was twice the size of Luxembourg when it separated from the Larsen ice shelf, which has warmed faster than any other part of Earth's southernmost continent. 

At 5,719 square kilometres (2,200 square miles) it was the biggest iceberg on Earth when it formed and the sixth-largest on record, according to the British Antarctic Survey. 

For two years, the trillion-tonne giant known as A-68, drifted close to home in the cold waters of the Weddell Sea before travelling northwards and menacing the British island of South Georgia, some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from its starting point. 

The iceberg, by then known as A-68a after a piece snapped off, came dangerously close to the island in late 2020, raising fears that it would become stuck on the seabed, block ocean currents and obstruct the passage of thousands of penguins and seals. 

But the new study found that while it did briefly graze the seabed, the iceberg melted quickly once in the warmer region around South Georgia and had already lost a significant amount of its bulk by the time it reached shallower waters. 

Researchers who tracked its journey via satellites calculated that from late 2020 until it melted away in 2021, A-68 released an estimated total of 152 billion tonnes of nutrient-rich fresh water into the sea. 

That is equivalent to 20 times the water in Scotland's Loch Ness, or 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, said the BAS in a press release, adding it was "a disturbance that could have a profound impact on the island's marine habitat". 

"This is a huge amount of melt water," said Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, a researcher at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), who led the research published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. 

"The next thing we want to learn is whether it had a positive or negative impact on the ecosystem" around South Georgia, she said. 

'Classic' route 

Researchers said the cold fresh meltwater and nutrients released as icebergs melt can influence local ocean circulation and spark biological production. 

Braakmann-Folgmann said A-68 had taken a "classic" route for icebergs in the region, adding that further research would look to learn more about how these icebergs are affecting the polar oceans. 

Icebergs form when hunks of ice break off from ice shelves or glaciers and begin to float in open water. 

Their formation is part of a natural process, although one which can be accelerated by warming air and ocean temperatures due to human-caused climate change. 

Earth's average surface temperature has gone up by one degree Celsius since the 19th century, enough to increase the intensity of droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones. 

But the air over Antarctica has warmed more than twice that much. 

Ice sheets atop Greenland and West Antarctic hold enough frozen water to lift oceans a dozen metres (40 feet), drowning cities and redrawing the planet's coastlines. 

Icebergs are traditionally named after the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally detected, then a sequential number. 

If they break apart more letters are added to differentiate the fragments.

Russian Arctic sets 'fantastical' heat records: weather chief

Yahoo – AFP, June 30, 2020

Russia struggles with wildfires in its remote taiga every summer (AFP Photo/
Ekaterina ANISIMOVA)

Moscow (AFP) - The Russian Arctic set record temperatures in June that sparked abnormal tundra fires, the head of Russia's weather service said Tuesday, blaming climate change for the "fantastical" anomalies.

Russia's northern territories, including parts of Yakutia region which borders the Arctic ocean, have faced a heat wave in recent weeks, and villages in the remote tundra are battling wildfires with some districts declaring a state of emergency.

"We had extremely anomalous weather" in June, Roman Vilfand said, adding that "previous records were broken easily".

He noted one record in particular in the Arctic town of Verkhoyansk, where temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit)on June 17.

"That is a fantastical degree," Vilfand said at a press conference, noting that Verkhoyansk previously set the record for the lowest temperature with minus 67.8 degrees Celsius.

Vilfand said the trend of hotter temperatures and sunnier weather was caused by climate change and a change in atmospheric circulation, with polar anticyclones -- phenomena that bring sunny skies -- becoming more frequent.

Map of Russia showing fires in Sibera during the last 24 hours (AFP Photo/

Patricio ARANA)

The lack of clouds, in turn, causes the ground to heat up during the Arctic summer, he said.

Previously "meteorologists didn't note fire hazardous situations in the polar regions often," he said, but this is now changing due to these patterns.

"It's an astonishing situation. Anticyclones happen more and more often and you can never predict where they are going to occur," he said.

"This is the most important problem of climate change and a result of climate change."

The resulting fires contribute to the cycle of warming since ash darkens the surface of ice that previously reflected the sun, causing it to melt instead, Vilfand said.

Russia is warming 2.5 times faster than the rest of the world due to its vast Arctic territories.

Though President Vladimir Putin has noted the benefits of warmer temperatures opening up transportation routes and energy resources, climate change is a huge hazard for the country's infrastructure built on permafrost.

Russia also struggles with wildfires in its remote taiga every summer as well as catastrophic floods.

Related Articles:

South Pole warming three times faster than rest of Earth: study

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

South Pole warming three times faster than rest of Earth: study

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY, June 29, 2020

For years it had been thought that the South Pole had stayed cool even as the
continent heated up (AFP Photo/FERNANDA REBULL)

Paris (AFP) - The South Pole has warmed three times faster than the rest of the planet in the last 30 years due to warmer tropical ocean temperatures, new research showed Monday.

Antarctica's temperature varies widely according to season and region, and for years it had been thought that the South Pole had stayed cool even as the continent heated up.

Researchers in New Zealand, Britain and the United States analysed 60 years of weather station data and used computer modelling to show what was causing the accelerated warming.

They found that warmer ocean temperatures in the western Pacific had over the decades lowered atmospheric pressure over the Weddell Sea in the southern Atlantic.

This in turn had increased the flow of warm air directly over the South Pole -- warming it by more than 1.83C (about 3.3F) since 1989.

Authors of the research said the natural warming trend was likely boosted by manmade greenhouse gas emissions and could be masking the heating effect of carbon pollution over the South Pole.

"While temperatures were known to be warming across West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula during the 20th century, the South Pole was cooling," said Kyle Clem, a researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, and lead study author.

"It was suspected that this part of Antarctica... might be immune to/isolated from warming. We found this is not the case any more," he told AFP.

The data showed that the South Pole -- the most remote spot on Earth -- was now warming at a rate of around 0.6C (1.1F) a decade, compared with around 0.2C (1.4F) for the rest of the planet.

The authors of the study, published in the Nature Climate Change journal, attributed the change to a phenomenon known as the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO).

The IPO cycle lasts roughly 15-30 years, and alternates between a "positive" state -- in which the tropical Pacific is hotter and the northern Pacific is colder than average -- and a "negative" state where the temperature anomaly is reversed.

The IPO flipped to a negative cycle at the start of the century, driving greater convection and more pressure extremes at high latitudes, leading to a strong flow of warmer air right over the South Pole.

Clem said that the 1.83C (3.3F) level of warming exceeded 99.99 percent of all modelled 30-year warming trends.

"While the warming was just within the natural variability of climate models, it was highly likely human activity had contributed," he said.

Related Articles:

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Temperatures rise across Europe's far north

Yahoo – AFP, Helene DAUSCHY, January 7, 2020

The normally frigid fjords in Norway's Arctic Circle in winter are experiencing
temperatures higher than normal this year (AFP Photo/Olivier MORIN)

Stockholm (AFP) - From the Norwegian fjords to Russian cities, record warm temperatures with less snow and rain have left the far north of Europe still waiting for the Arctic winter.

Sunndalsora, a small town in western Norway registered 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) last Thursday, a temperature never seen before in the Nordic country at this time of year.

A local mayor marked the new year by filming himself swimming in water much colder than the air.

The temperate climate is due to warm winds which are expected to sweep through the region again this week, according to Norwegian forecasters. They added however these winds are not unusual and such warm spells are not necessarily linked to climate change.

Still temperatures have been higher than normal for the season.

In Sweden, temperatures over the past few days have climbed some 5C degrees higher than normal in the south of the Scandinavian country, and 10C degrees higher in the north.

"On 2 January three stations in central Sweden reported their highest January temperatures since 1971," Sverker Hellstrom, climatologist at the Swedish meteorological institute told AFP.

In Sweden's Lapland, the owner of a dog sled business claimed it has been one of the warmest winters in decades, with huge swings in temperature.

Donald Eriksson pointed out that on January 7 it was minus 36C degrees but on Tuesday it was above freezing at 1C degree.

"The trend is clear: in the last 15 years, and especially in the last 10, winter has been shortened by a month and a half on average," Eriksson told AFP by phone.

Shorter winters

In southern Finland where temperatures in December were 4.5C degrees higher than normal, winter has not even begun yet, according to the local weather service.

Meteorological estimates indicate that in January in the region, there will not be a real winter, defined as the number of days with below freezing temperatures.

Oslo, for example, has lost 21 days of winter over the last three decades, forecasters said, predicting that shorter winters will continue.

"By 2050, more than one million Norwegians will live in areas with less than a month of winter," said researcher Reidun Gangsto Skaland.

In the heart of the Arctic, the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard is experiencing its 109th straight month of temperatures above normal, according to the Norwegian meteorological institute.

It is the same situation in neighbouring Russia.

On Tuesday, it was 0C degrees in Murmansk, the world's biggest city above the Arctic Circle, which is about 6C higher than the seasonal norm, the national weather centre said.

The forecast for Wednesday is for even warmer temperatures reaching 2C degrees in Murmansk and 4C degrees in Saint Petersburg, Russia's second city, which would be 12C degrees higher than normal.

But the northeast of Russia is not alone. "All of the country has been registering positive anomalies" in temperature, the director of the national meteorlogical service, Roman Vilfand, told the Ria Novosti news agency.

He pointed to some parts of Siberia, one of the coldest places in the world where temperatures have reached 20C degrees higher than normal.

Tropical Indonesia's tiny glaciers to melt away in a decade: study

Yahoo – AFP, Dessy Sagita and Peter Brieger, December 13, 2019

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in
Indonesia's Papua region are a key marker of the impact of rising global
temperatures, researchers said (AFP Photo/Handout)

Indonesia's little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries.

As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises.

Thousands of kilometres away, glaciers on a mountain range in Indonesia's Papua region -- and a handful of others in Africa and the Peruvian Andes -- are an early warning of what could be in store if they fail.

"Because of the relatively low elevation of the (Papua) glaciers... these will be the first to go," said Lonnie Thompson, one of the authors of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

"They are the 'canaries in the coal mine'".

This summer, Iceland mourned the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, amid warnings that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate.

Meanwhile, a team of researchers in Switzerland warned that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could see more than 90-percent of glaciers in the Alps disappear by the end of the century.

Accelerating melt-off from glaciers and especially ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are driving sea level rises, threatening coastal megacities and small island nations. Glaciers are also a key water source for tens of millions of people.

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in 

Indonesia's Papua region are a key marker of the impact of rising global 

temperatures, researchers said (AFP Photo/Handout)

Tropical glaciers?

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in Papua, an Indonesian region on the western half of New Guinea island, are a key marker of the impact of rising global temperatures, researchers said.

"Tropical glaciers are mostly smaller and so their response time to variations in climate change is faster compared to larger glaciers and ice sheets," said Indonesia-based glaciologist Donaldi Permana, also an author on the study.

Earlier estimates suggested that Papua's glaciers have shrunk by some 85 percent in the past few decades.

This week's study said glaciers that once covered some 20 square kilometres have shrunk to less than half of one square kilometre. There has also been a more than five-fold increase in the rate of ice thinning over the past few years.

"The situation has reached worrying levels because ice formation is no longer happening -- only glacier recession," Permana said.

"The glaciers are in danger of disappearing within a decade or less," he added.

The melting has been exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon, which causes warmer temperatures and reduced rainfall.

"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and planting more trees can probably slow down the ice recession in Papua," Permana said.

"However, we believe it'll be extremely difficult to keep them" from melting.

Aside from any environmental impact, their disappearance would also be a cultural loss for some indigenous Papuans who consider them sacred.

"The mountains and valleys are the arms and legs of their god and the glaciers are the head," said Thompson, a professor at Ohio State University.

"The head of their god will soon disappear."