For several years now, I have been a subscriber to the monthly magazine Scientific American. I really like learning about new discoveries and progress in the scientific world, both in my intended fields of study, chemistry and physics, as well as others that I know relatively little about, from psychology to computer science. Scientific American provides excellent articles on a wide range of topics that lets me do just that, and it is the only periodical I subscribe to. Unfortunately, as a senior last year I did not have as much time to read for pleasure as I liked, and when I had time, I tended to read other things, so I am a ways behind. While I was able to read a lot this summer and this first month of college (I expect that will not be the case the whole time), I am still just finishing the January 2013 issue.
That being said, I read a really interesting article on Wednesday (from the December 2012) about sea ice melting and some unexpected effects it can have on global weather patterns. As hinted at in the title, as sea ice melts, it can actually cause winters to be colder and stormier in the United States and Europe. If you’re thinking what I was thinking when I first read it, you’re thinking something along the lines of “…wait, what…?” But as unbelievable as it sounds, there is a good amount of evidence to support this hypothesis. So, here’s a quick explanation of how that works:
First, when I (and most scientists) say that sea ice is melting, they are referring to the fact that the amount of ice in the Arctic that remains frozen through the whole summer is decreasing, and rather rapidly. As the Arctic warms up, which is accelerated by this loss of ice, the pressure and moisture in the atmosphere over the Arctic Ocean increases. The higher the pressure and moisture, the weaker a normal “polar vortex” around the North Pole is, which has major consequences for other weather phenomena in the northern hemisphere. With a weaker polar vortex, two patterns we know as the Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation tend to have a “negative” phase.
While the differences between the positive and negative phases of the two oscillations are hard to explain, when they are negative they cannot hold cold arctic air in the Arctic as well. The global jet stream is also pushed southward, taking more mild air with it. The rest is simple, cold air that would normally be constrained by the Arctic Oscillation is able to move southward, making winters in most of North American and Europe significantly colder, stormier and snowier. This exact phenomenon, with some variation, has happened in the past three winters, bringing some of the most severe temperatures and storms to certain places with it.
That was pretty surprising for me, but is a good reminder of the unpredictability of our climate and weather. Global warming is a lot more complex than it may seem, and can may some pretty drastic and unexpected consequences. And because we can’t predict it, wouldn’t it be better to do whatever we can to stop it so we don’t need to find out what problems it may cause. I don’t want to rant about climate change now, as I could spend a lot of time and would rather do that later, so that’s all I have to say for now. If there were a free (and legal) version of the article online, I would post it, but I don’t know of one, but if you are interested enough feel free to check out where you could buy issue here.
One Hour Till Midnight 