‘The Arctic is Warming Much Faster Than the Rest of the Globe'

Dr M Ravichandran is Director of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research in Goa under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, where he guides the Indian Arctic Programme that aegis India’s permanent research base ‘Himadri’ in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago since 2008. In this interaction with Bhavya Khanna for TerraGreen, he explains why Arctic amplification happens, what escalates its pace, its likely consequences for India and geographies alike, and what must be done to address this looming danger.

- Bhavya Khanna

Arctic region is clad in snow and ice both on its landmass and sea. Its glaciers are freshwater reserves for the world. Because of Arctic warming, there has been a reduction in the expanse and thickness of sea ice and an increase in the open sea. How do these changes impact climate and weather especially in countries like India albeit being remotely located?

Although India and Arctic region are remote, these regions impact each other via the atmosphere and oceans, in short-and long-term, respectively. In the short term, extreme rainfall in Northern India impacts Arctic melting. In the long term, Arctic warming and melting of land ice will eventually increase the sea levels and temperature of the Indian Ocean and will shrink the Indian coast.

Scientific papers have documented that the Earth’s Arctic region is warming a two-three times higher rate than the global average of around 0.5ËšC per decade. Why is it that the Arctic region is warming up at this relatively higher pace compared to the rest of the world?