Warmest in 2,000 years

Arctic is responding more rapidly to global warming than most other areas on our planet.

- There is no obvious natural reason that can explain this temperature increase, says Morten Hald, Professor at the University of Tromsø and author of the research article published in today’s edition of the journal Science.

The researchers behind the study found that temperatures in the Gulf Stream off Svalbard increased by two degrees over the last 30 years. –

- This is unusually high in a 2000-year perspective says Professor Morten Hald in an article published by the University of Tromsø. The study says the rise in temperatures in the Gulf Stream over the last 2,000 years were about 3,5 degrees.

The Tromsø research team worked together with marine geologists from Germany and U.S. By studying marine sediments on the seabed west of Svalbard they were able to get a understanding of feedback mechanisms and the future of the Arctic climate system.

Northward flowing Atlantic water is the major means of heat advection toward the Barents Sea and Arctic Oceans and strongly affects the sea ice distribution. And with less ice the future of polar bears are highly uncertain.

Polar bear is the only species of land mammals whose main habitat are the Arctic islands and drift ice. They hunt on ice, rather than in water. No ice - no food.

The ice-cap in the Arctic Ocean shrank to its lowest on record in 2007. In 2010, drift ice in the Russian part of the Arctic were all time low.

If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years, according to a report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In the Barents Region you can find polar bears on the Russian islands of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef’s Land. The Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Franz Josef’s Land share a common population of some 3,000 polar bears.