logo
The Arctic is turning GREEN thanks to climate change: Shocking photos snapped in winter reveal widespread snowmelt and blooming vegetation

The Arctic is turning GREEN thanks to climate change: Shocking photos snapped in winter reveal widespread snowmelt and blooming vegetation

Daily Mail​5 days ago
In winter, the Arctic should be a stunning white landscape – a pristine world of ice and falling snow spanning thousands of miles.
But shocking photos reveal the new reality at the North pole, thanks to climate change.
Scientists from London who travelled to Svalbard in February and early March report a 'dramatic and concerning shift in the Arctic winter'.
At the Norwegian territory, they encountered exceptionally high temperatures, widespread snowmelt, and blooming vegetation.
Within a few decades, huge parts of the Arctic in winter could look like the lowlands of Scotland, the experts predict.
Dr James Bradley, expedition member and environmental scientist at Queen Mary University of London, calls for urgent climate action to reduce global warming.
'Standing in pools of water at the snout of the glacier, or on bare, green tundra, was shocking and surreal,' he said.
'Climate policy must catch up to the reality that the Arctic is changing much faster than expected.'
Dr Bradley and a few other colleagues travelled to Svalbard, a Norwegian territory, for a fieldwork campaign in February this year.
At Svalbard, which sits within the Arctic Circle, they experienced 'exceptionally' high air temperatures, among the warmest ever recorded in the Arctic.
For example, in Ny-Ålesund, north-west Svalbard and about 745 miles (1,200km) from the North Pole, the air temperature average for February 2025 was -3.3°C/26°F.
This is considerably higher than the 1961-2001 average in the region for this time of year of -15°C/5°F.
The team witnessed widespread pooling of meltwater into 'vast temporary lakes', which they were able to walk through like gigantic puddles.
Meanwhile, vegetation emerged through the melting snow and ice, displaying 'green hues' typically associated with spring and summer.
'Blooms of biological activity were widespread across the thawing tundra,' say the researchers in their paper, published in Nature Communications.
'Surface soils, which are typically frozen solid during this time of the year, thawed such that they were soft enough to be directly sampled with a spoon.'
Rainfall over Svalbard triggered widespread snowmelt and pooling of meltwater, which the researchers were able to walk through like giant puddles. Pictured, a meltwater pooling above frozen ground at the snout of Midtre Lovénbreen glacier, February 26, 2025
February temperatures at Svalbard
In Ny-Ålesund, north-west Svalbard, the air temperature average for February 2025 was -3.3°C/26°F, and reached a maximum of 4.7°C/40.4°F.
This is much higher than the 1961-2001 average for February (-15°C/5°F).
Air temperatures higher than 0°C were recorded in NyÅlesund on 14 of the 28 days of February 2025.
Such sustained warmth, coupled with prolonged rainfall, triggered widespread melting of snow and ice.
There was also a lack of snowfall, which instead fell as rain – indicating warmer than usual conditions.
The team were used to donning thermal layers and thick gloves, but they often found themselves working bare-handed in the rain.
'The gear I packed felt like a relic from another climate,' said Dr Bradley.
Human communities and infrastructure at Svalbard are threatened by winter warming like this, partly due to the possibility of avalanches.
The team warn of unstable 'snowpack' – the accumulation of snow on the ground, compacted by its own weight – which increases avalanche risk.
They even questioned their own safety at Svalbard, suggesting that future fieldwork might not be feasible.
Svalbard, the world's northernmost permanent settlement, is at the 'front line' of the climate crisis as it is warming at six to seven times the global average rate.
Human-caused global warming is particularly amplified in the Arctic, causing the climate there to warm more quickly than the rest of the Earth.
The big reason for this phenomenon – known as 'Arctic amplification' – is that the relatively dark surface of the ocean absorbs more heat.
And the more ice is melted at the Arctic, the more heat is absorbed.
The team's findings challenge the long-held assumption that the Arctic is 'reliably frozen' in winter – and they don't think they are 'an isolated occurrence'.
Winter warming events in Svalbard have been a recurring phenomenon in recent decades as a consequence of human-caused climate change
'Winter warming in the Arctic has long reached melting point and is reshaping Arctic landscapes,' they conclude.
'Although the recent thaw event of February 2025 was not an isolated occurrence, witnessing it in real time served as a reminder of the accelerating pace of change, and made us wonder if we have been too cautious with our climate warnings.
'These winter warming events are seen by many as anomalies, but this is the new Arctic.'
The last 10 years have been the warmest on record, characterised by devastating and extreme weather.
Now, a report warns that climate change really is spiralling out of control.
Predictions by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show temperatures are expected to continue at or near record levels for the next five years.
If this trend continues, there will be even more harmful heatwaves, severe rainfall and floods, intense droughts, melting ice and rising sea levels, experts say.
And Earth is edging closer to the threshold considered a critical tipping point for catastrophic climate consequences, they warned.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hurricane researchers plan a 'fleet' of sharks to help forecasts
Hurricane researchers plan a 'fleet' of sharks to help forecasts

The Herald Scotland

time17 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Hurricane researchers plan a 'fleet' of sharks to help forecasts

"By attaching these tags ... to sharks, which are wide-ranging, mobile predators, we will be able to observe a much larger part of the ocean that typically remains unobserved," said marine ecologist Aaron Carlisle of the University of Delaware, in an email to USA TODAY. He said it's not so much that we can't obtain these data using other means (such as vessels or autonomous vehicles), it's that those other platforms are very expensive and are limited in where they can go. In addition, "remote sensing via satellite-based sensors only looks at the surface, and it is what is going on below the surface that is really critical for many oceanographic/climate processes (such as hurricanes)." Water temps drive hurricane formation According to Carlisle, water temperature, and how it changes with depth, is what drives ocean heat content, and that is generally what drives hurricanes. He said salinity is important too, but is less critical for this particular issue in this region. Indeed, according to the National Weather Service, the first condition for hurricane formation is that ocean waters must be above 79 degrees F. "Below this threshold temperature, hurricanes will not form or will weaken rapidly once they move over water below this threshold. Ocean temperatures in the tropical East Pacific and the tropical Atlantic routinely surpass this threshold," the weather service said. What species of sharks are being used? Blue sharks and mako sharks are two of the species that were the best suited to carry these tags, due to their movement and diving characteristics. This isn't the first time animals have been used in a similar way for scientific research. Animals such as seals and narwhals have been tagged to track hard-to-reach areas in the Arctic and Antarctic, the Washington Post reports. Dolphins and whales have also been used by Russia for military purposes. Will the data captured by the sharks be used during actual hurricanes? "Yes, our goal is to have a 'fleet' of sharks carrying these tags during the hurricane season, and they will be providing real-time oceanographic data across the North Atlantic that will be fed into various ocean models that are used to predict hurricane strength, intensity, direction, etc.," Carlisle said in an e-mail. So far, his team conducted tagging experiments with the sharks in May, with some success. "As to whether the sharks will be in the actual hurricanes remains to be seen, but I suspect they will avoid them and won't be surfacing during hurricanes!" Is the goal to have the sharks deployed this year, during the 2025 season? This year, researchers are still working out bugs and are limited in the number of tags that can be deployed due to the continuing after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a huge impact on this project, Carlisle reported. "Our hope, if we obtain sufficient additional funding to keep things moving forward, is that we will be actually doing this type of work on a larger scale in 2026 (if lucky) or more likely 2027." Funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been more than satisfactory for the project so far, and Carlisle said "the agency has been incredibly supportive of us throughout this process." The teams' partner, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System, has also been helpful. NOAA budget cuts: Dramatic budget cuts at NOAA could put weather forecasts in peril, lives in danger Are the sharks harmed by having the tags attached to them? "That's a topic that we are keenly aware of in our field," Carlisle said. "Attaching anything to an animal will have some impact on the animal, but we do everything in our power to minimize any negative impacts on the animal." In addition, Carlisle and his team go through a thorough permitting and review process that ensures they do everything they can to minimize impacts on animals. Beyond that, he said they need the animals to be "happy and healthy" in order to provide the team with good data, as they are carrying very expensive equipment (each tag costs about $6,000), so if the tag has significant deleterious impacts on the animal, "we aren't just hurting the animal but we're essentially throwing the tag away." The tags will not be on the animals permanently: researchers use parts that will corrode over time, allowing the whole tag package to fall off the animal.

How have UK insects been affected by 2025's hot, sunny weather?
How have UK insects been affected by 2025's hot, sunny weather?

BBC News

time20 hours ago

  • BBC News

How have UK insects been affected by 2025's hot, sunny weather?

Certain insects - including ladybirds, butterflies and wasps - are thriving after the warmest and sunniest spring on record across the numbers, the main food source of ladybirds, boomed according to the Royal Horticultural Society after a warm start to the the relative lack of rain this spring and summer could lead to lower insect and amphibian numbers next year since eggs may not be laid and wetland areas are drying up. Insect numbers are difficult to quantify but research suggests that in the longer term, the UK's flying insect population is in decline. An abundance of aphids Whilst the long term picture for the decline of flying insects looks pretty bleak, there is no denying that this year has been a visibly bumper Brown is director of climate change and evidence at The Wildlife Trusts, a federation of 46 independent wildlife conservation charities in the UK. She said: "Many people across the UK are noticing more ladybirds, wasps and other insects this summer – off the back of a very poor year last year for species like butterflies."These are all species that thrive in warm, dry conditions. Earlier in the year the Royal Horticultural Society correctly predicted that we were in for an abundant year for aphids. Whilst that has proved a bit of a headache for gardeners, aphids form an important part of the food chain and are eaten by birds and other Hayley Jones, principal entomologist at the Royal Horticultural Society, says that their numbers are now beginning to drop off as their natural predator - the ladybird - is taking over and playing catch up. 'Extraordinary' year for early butterfly sightings Another much loved flying insect, the butterfly, is often seen as an important indicator of the general health of the immediate environment. These have been in general decline since the Richard Fox, head of science at the Butterfly Conservation charity, says that 2025 has been quite extraordinary in terms of early sightings with 18 species spotted at least two weeks earlier than average and a further 24 species seen at least a week is in contrast to last year's 'butterfly emergency', declared when the lowest numbers of butterflies were ever recorded. This followed a cloudy, wet spring and cool summer. Some varieties, such as the dark green fritillary did not have a single sighting in like all insects, are ectothermic (cold-blooded) and need the warmth and light of the sun to regulate their body temperature and give them energy to fly. This year's warmth has helped them move through their lifecycle quickly meaning their survival rate has been remarkably good; spending less time as caterpillars and as potential bird food. Lepidopterist Martin Wills, who records numbers at Hutchinson's Bank Nature Reserve in south London, confirmed that it has been a fantastic butterfly season so far with record numbers of early sightings. You can take part in 2025's Big Butterfly Count which is on until 10 August and go to BBC Weather to find out what the weather is doing in your area. Bumper year for lavender Not far from Hutchinson's Bank Nature Reserve in south London lie some of the UK's most beautiful lavender fields which are fantastic habitats for butterflies and especially bees. Lavender thrives in sunny, warm conditions with dry summers and mild winters. This year in the UK it has come into full bloom much earlier than usual, meaning more bees and butterflies earlier in the year. Lorna May, the owner of Mayfield Lavender in Surrey, told BBC Weather she had seen a tenfold increase on last year in honey production which she put down to the happy and soaring bee the number of pests have increased too including the tiny, shiny rosemary beetle which has exploded in number this year. To avoid using pesticides, an army of volunteers remove the beautiful bugs by cause for concern of an early lavender bloom for Lorna May is that the plant may die earlier and this could in turn have a notable effect on the local biodiversity for the rest of the summer. According to Kathryn Brown of The Wildlife Trusts, climate change is making things more chaotic for said: "We're waiting to see the statistics for this year, but it's likely that we are seeing greater 'boom and bust' cycles for wildlife as we experience increasing erratic weather patterns." The latest State of the UK Climate report published by the Met Office remarks that weather extremes are now becoming the new normal and that hotter, drier summers will become more of the 10 warmest UK springs have occurred since 2000, with the three warmest since course, wildlife are sensitive not only to weather extremes but also to the use of pesticides and loss of it is often overlooked how important insects are to our biodiversity, playing vital roles in almost every ecosystem. From pollination, to being an essential food source, to helping the decaying process. The Wildlife Trusts suggests you can help declining populations by mowing your lawn less often, supporting local rewilding projects and creating ponds.

The sea animal which could soon be used to predict tornadoes
The sea animal which could soon be used to predict tornadoes

The Independent

time21 hours ago

  • The Independent

The sea animal which could soon be used to predict tornadoes

Researchers are tagging sharks in the Atlantic Ocean to gather critical data for improving hurricane forecasting. Three sharks, including two mako sharks, are fitted with sensors to monitor water conductivity and temperature, key factors influencing hurricane strength. This innovative method utilises sharks as 'ocean sensors' to collect data more efficiently than traditional approaches like satellites or robotic gliders. The information gathered will help scientists better understand hurricane development, predict their paths, and assess their potential intensity. The project plans to tag dozens of sharks annually, integrating their data into hurricane computer models, with careful consideration for the animals' welfare.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store