Huge waves and more storms expected in the Arctic ocean? View here alarming videos with negative consequences!
Researchers at the US University of Washington studying the ice-free Beaufort Arctic Sea in 2012 have published recently their conclusions in the Geophysical Research Letters that : “… Future scenarios for reduced seasonal sea ice cover in the Arctic suggest that larger waves are to be expected and that swells will be more common… The increasing wave climate will also have implications for the coasts, which are already eroding rapidly during summer months as a result of climate change and subsequent loss of permafrost…
For example, on 18 September 2012 strong winds (up to 18 m s−1) generated 5 m wave heights in the ice-free central Beaufort Sea (Figure 1 picture here below). Storms thus have the potential to create Arctic swell huge waves that could add a new and unpredictable element to the Far North region… Read here more about this interesting study “Swell and sea in the emerging Arctic Ocean” by Jim Thomson and W. Erick Rogers >>
As the climate warms and sea ice retreats, we can see that the Far North is changing fast with more open water! In other words, larger waves in the Arctic can have 4 major negative consequences:
– can affect ice break-up of the remaining summer ice floes;
– have a real nasty impact on marine navigation (additional reason to avoid tankers to navigate in the Arctic causing major risk of oil spills (see below video of an oil rig in the Arctic) and destroying then pristine wildlife – click here >> );
– certainly have some kind of negative effects on coastal erosion;
– threaten vulnerable human communities on global scale…
