Latest news with #FinnishMeteorologicalInstitute
Agriland
24-05-2025
- Science
- Agriland
New research aimed at reducing GHG emissions from farmland
A major new Finnish-led research initiative is developing innovative, science-based solutions to measure and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural lands, paving the way for more climate-friendly farming and food production. Led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the AGCLIMATE project brings together top research institutions and companies, including Vaisala, to address agriculture's significant role in food system emissions. The aim is to create practical tools for the food industry to track and reduce emissions at the field level. Research professor Jari Liski, project lead at the Finnish Meteorological Institute said: 'In AGCLIMATE, scientific results are turned into practical solutions for everyday farming. 'Reliable data becomes usable for climate-friendly business and decision-making.' Four key objectives of AGCLIMATE: Develop climate-smart farming practices; Build a real-time monitoring system for carbon balance and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions; O) emissions; Integrate emissions data into farm- and product-level carbon footprint calculations; Strengthen the business potential of low-emission food solutions. Industry involvement Carbon dioxide CO2 monitoring company, Vaisala has said that it uses high-quality technology that enables effective climate action. Fernando Trolia Slamic, head of Vaisala's New Climate Business said: 'This project aligns perfectly with our goal of providing accurate measurement tools and data for understanding and reducing carbon emissions in the food industry. 'We are proud to cooperate and learn together with such a remarkable network of experts and key stakeholders, bringing our expertise to develop next-generation sensing technologies for agricultural and environmental monitoring.' Collaborative effort to reduce emissions The AGCLIMATE consortium includes leading research institutes and industry players across the agri-food value chain. Running from April 2025 to December 2027 and spanning three growing seasons, the project includes seven work packages covering cultivation practices, life cycle analysis, monitoring systems, and international validation. A field bbservatory system will make real-time measurement data openly accessible to stakeholders. The results aim to improve the climate performance of food production and help companies prepare for future carbon regulations and market standards. The project is partly funded by Business Finland. Project partners and roles include the following: The Finnish Meteorological Institute – project lead; develops carbon and N 2 O monitoring systems using field measurements, modeling, and satellite data; O monitoring systems using field measurements, modeling, and satellite data; Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) – focuses on life cycle analysis, research on N 2 O reduction, soil carbon, and root biomass measurement, and compiles best practices; O reduction, soil carbon, and root biomass measurement, and compiles best practices; The University of Helsinki – provides expertise on nitrogen-efficient farming and N 2 O measurement through the Viikki research farm and SMEAR-Agri platform; O measurement through the Viikki research farm and SMEAR-Agri platform; Valio – connects field-level climate impacts with product-specific carbon footprints; Hankkija – focuses on climate-smart grass cultivation and forage optimisation; Datasense – enhances its GHG Research Suite for integrated emissions research; Cense Analytics – develops and provides a comprehensive soil carbon measurement service; Vaisala – develops next-generation sensors to improve carbon footprint monitoring and modelling.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Summer 2024 was Lapland's warmest in 2,000 years: Study
Representative image HELSINKI: The summer of 2024 was the warmest in 2,000 years in the Lapland region of northern Finland, Norway and Sweden, driven by climate change, the Finnish Meteorological Institute told AFP on Monday. "Last summer's average temperature in Lapland, or northern Fennoscandia, was the highest in both direct observations which we have from the late 1800s onwards and so-called indirect tree ring observations, of which the longest time series extends to 2,000 years ago," Mika Rantanen, researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told AFP. He cited a study carried out by the Meteorological Institute and the Natural Resources Institute in Finland, published in US scientific journal Nature, showing that the summer of 2024 in the northern Finnish town of Sodankyla had been around 2.1 degrees Celsius warmer as a result of human-caused climate change. The mean temperature of 15.9C degrees between June and August 2024 broke the previous record dating back to 1937 by 0.4C degrees. Climate change increased the likelihood of such exceptionally warm summers by around a hundred times, the study estimated. "If it were not for climate change, the previous summer would have been a very, very rare event, occurring about once every 1,400 years," Rantanen said. "In the current climate, however, such a summer is likely to reoccur every 16 years," he added. Rantanen warned the region stretching over the northern areas of Finland, Sweden and Norway and parts of Russia was moving "beyond the natural range of variation" due to the soaring temperatures in the area. This was resulting in consequences such as more frequent heatwaves, forest fires and an increased greening of the tundra bringing irreversible changes to the sensitive Arctic ecosystems and its local populations. Compared to other parts of the globe, the Arctic region is warming four times faster since 1979, according to a study published in Nature in 2022. "We found out that in 2050, a summer as warm as the one we had last year would be so common that it would happen every four years. This warming will continue unless these global climate emissions can be limited," Rantanen said.
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Science
- RTÉ News
Summer 2024 was Lapland's warmest in 2,000 years: study
The summer of 2024 was the warmest in 2,000 years in the Lapland region of northern Finland, Norway and Sweden, driven by climate change, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said. "Last summer's average temperature in Lapland, or northern Fennoscandia, was the highest in both direct observations which we have from the late 1800s onwards and so-called indirect tree ring observations, of which the longest time series extends to 2,000 years ago," Mika Rantanen, researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, said. He cited a study carried out by the Meteorological Institute and the Natural Resources Institute in Finland, published in US scientific journal Nature, showing that the summer of 2024 in the northern Finnish town of Sodankyla had been around 2.1 degrees Celsius warmer as a result of human-caused climate change. The mean temperature of 15.9C degrees between June and August 2024 broke the previous record dating back to 1937 by 0.4C degrees. Climate change increased the likelihood of such exceptionally warm summers by around a hundred times, the study estimated. "If it were not for climate change, the previous summer would have been a very, very rare event, occurring about once every 1,400 years," Dr Rantanen said. "In the current climate, however, such a summer is likely to reoccur every 16 years," he added. Dr Rantanen warned the region stretching over the northern areas of Finland, Sweden and Norway and parts of Russia was moving "beyond the natural range of variation" due to the soaring temperatures in the area. This was resulting in consequences such as more frequent heatwaves, forest fires and an increased greening of the tundra bringing irreversible changes to the sensitive Arctic ecosystems and its local populations. Compared to other parts of the globe, the Arctic region is warming four times faster since 1979, according to a study published in Nature in 2022. "We found out that in 2050, a summer as warm as the one we had last year would be so common that it would happen every four years. This warming will continue unless these global climate emissions can be limited," Dr Rantanen said.
CNN
13-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
The Arctic is in trouble. The consequences will be felt around the world
The Arctic has long filled humans with awe, but there are now profoundly worrying signals coming from the frozen landscape at the top of our planet, and scientists are deeply concerned about its future as the Trump administration pulls the US out of global climate strategy and guts its science agencies. Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows. This follows a year of concerning signs from the region, including intense wildfires and thawing permafrost pumping out planet-heating pollution. It paints a grim picture of a region that's been in rapid decline for the last two decades as humans continue to burn fossil fuels. The Arctic now exists within a 'new regime,' where signals such as sea ice loss and ocean temperatures may not always break records, but are consistently more extreme compared to the past, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual health check of the region published in December. It's a problem with global consequences. The Arctic plays a vital role in global temperatures and weather systems. It's 'sort of like our planetary air conditioning system,' said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Its decline accelerates global warming, increases sea level rise and helps to drive more extreme weather. The Arctic is the early warning system for climate change and the loss of sea ice is a clear sign it's in trouble, scientists say. It should be reaching its annual maximum levels of ice at this time of year, but instead it's experiencing record lows. 'I hope that these three months do not act as a precursor to a potential new all-time minimum this summer, because the starting point to the melting season is not good,' said Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Arctic sea ice bottoms out at the end of summer in September. The last 18 years have seen the lowest sea ice levels on record, a downward spiral that will continue, scientists say. The Arctic will be ice-free in the summer at some point by 2050, even if humans stop pumping out climate pollution, according to a report co-authored by Dirk Notz, head of sea ice at the University of Hamburg. 'It's basically too late to prevent that,' he told CNN. The first ice-free day could even happen before the end of this decade, according to a separate study published in December. Sea ice loss is not only damaging to wildlife, plants and the roughly 4 million people who live in the Arctic — it has global consequences. Sea ice acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sunlight away from the Earth and back into space. As it shrinks, more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the dark ocean, which accelerates global heating. Part of the reason for the recent run of record-low sea ice is the unusual heat in the Arctic, which has been warming around four times faster than the global average. Early February's extreme warmth 'was one of the strongest ever recorded,' said Rantanen, who estimates it was probably in the top three of the most intense warming events in the satellite era since the 1970s. The Arctic landscape is changing too, said the NSIDC's Twila Moon. The thawing of permafrost — a jumble of soil, rocks and sediment held together by ice — is pervasive, she said, releasing planet-heating carbon dioxide and methane. Wildfires have become more frequent and intense and wildfire seasons run longer. Last year marked the third time in five years significant, widespread blazes ripped across the Arctic. These changes are fundamentally altering the ecosystem. For thousands of years, the shrubby landscape of the Arctic tundra stored carbon, but wildfires and thawing permafrost mean that this region is now releasing more carbon than it stores, according to NOAA. 'There's just an overwhelming amount of change happening in the Arctic right now,' said Moon. What happens in the Arctic has repercussions across the planet. A warmer Arctic means land ice — glaciers and ice sheets — melts faster, adding to sea level rise. The Greenland ice sheet already sheds around 280 billion tons of ice a year, enough to cover the whole of Manhattan in a layer of ice roughly 2 miles thick. Rapid warming in the region also weakens the jet stream, altering weather systems that affect billions of people, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. A more meandering jet stream 'makes weather conditions linger longer, leading to more persistent heat waves, cold spells, drought, and stormy periods,' she told CNN. Scientists say some of these changes can be reversed if humans stop pumping out planet-heating gases, but on timescales ranging from hundreds of years to many thousands. Many of these changes are considered 'relatively irreversible,' Moon said. There's another threat, too. Scientists' ability to keep tabs on the swift-changing Arctic is being jeopardized by geopolitical upheaval. Russia's war on Ukraine has meant scientists from the country, the largest Arctic nation, have been excluded from international collaboration. This has already undermined scientists' ability to track what's happening in the Arctic, according to a recent study. In the US, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to government climate science jobs is creating serious concern, especially as many measurement systems are maintained by the US. With less US expertise and fewer US scientists, 'it would become much, much harder to understand what's happening' at a vital time for the Arctic, said the University of Hamburg's Notz. What's happening in the Arctic is one of the starkest indications of 'how powerful we humans have become in changing the face of our planet,' Notz said. 'We are able to wipe out entire landscapes.'
CNN
12-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
How humans have pushed the Arctic into a ‘new regime'
The Arctic has long filled humans with awe, but there are now profoundly worrying signals coming from the frozen landscape at the top of our planet, and scientists are deeply concerned about its future as the Trump administration pulls the US out of global climate strategy and guts its science agencies. Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows. This follows a year of concerning signs from the region, including intense wildfires and thawing permafrost pumping out planet-heating pollution. It paints a grim picture of a region that's been in rapid decline for the last two decades as humans continue to burn fossil fuels. The Arctic now exists within a 'new regime,' where signals such as sea ice loss and ocean temperatures may not always break records, but are consistently more extreme compared to the past, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual health check of the region published in December. It's a problem with global consequences. The Arctic plays a vital role in global temperatures and weather systems. It's 'sort of like our planetary air conditioning system,' said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Its decline accelerates global warming, increases sea level rise and helps to drive more extreme weather. The Arctic is the early warning system for climate change and the loss of sea ice is a clear sign it's in trouble, scientists say. It should be reaching its annual maximum levels of ice at this time of year, but instead it's experiencing record lows. 'I hope that these three months do not act as a precursor to a potential new all-time minimum this summer, because the starting point to the melting season is not good,' said Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Arctic sea ice bottoms out at the end of summer in September. The last 18 years have seen the lowest sea ice levels on record, a downward spiral that will continue, scientists say. The Arctic will be ice-free in the summer at some point by 2050, even if humans stop pumping out climate pollution, according to a report co-authored by Dirk Notz, head of sea ice at the University of Hamburg. 'It's basically too late to prevent that,' he told CNN. The first ice-free day could even happen before the end of this decade, according to a separate study published in December. Sea ice loss is not only damaging to wildlife, plants and the roughly 4 million people who live in the Arctic — it has global consequences. Sea ice acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sunlight away from the Earth and back into space. As it shrinks, more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the dark ocean, which accelerates global heating. Part of the reason for the recent run of record-low sea ice is the unusual heat in the Arctic, which has been warming around four times faster than the global average. Early February's extreme warmth 'was one of the strongest ever recorded,' said Rantanen, who estimates it was probably in the top three of the most intense warming events in the satellite era since the 1970s. The Arctic landscape is changing too, said the NSIDC's Twila Moon. The thawing of permafrost — a jumble of soil, rocks and sediment held together by ice — is pervasive, she said, releasing planet-heating carbon dioxide and methane. Wildfires have become more frequent and intense and wildfire seasons run longer. Last year marked the third time in five years significant, widespread blazes ripped across the Arctic. These changes are fundamentally altering the ecosystem. For thousands of years, the shrubby landscape of the Arctic tundra stored carbon, but wildfires and thawing permafrost mean that this region is now releasing more carbon than it stores, according to NOAA. 'There's just an overwhelming amount of change happening in the Arctic right now,' said Moon. What happens in the Arctic has repercussions across the planet. A warmer Arctic means land ice — glaciers and ice sheets — melts faster, adding to sea level rise. The Greenland ice sheet already sheds around 280 billion tons of ice a year, enough to cover the whole of Manhattan in a layer of ice roughly 2 miles thick. Rapid warming in the region also weakens the jet stream, altering weather systems that affect billions of people, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. A more meandering jet stream 'makes weather conditions linger longer, leading to more persistent heat waves, cold spells, drought, and stormy periods,' she told CNN. Scientists say some of these changes can be reversed if humans stop pumping out planet-heating gases, but on timescales ranging from hundreds of years to many thousands. Many of these changes are considered 'relatively irreversible,' Moon said. There's another threat, too. Scientists' ability to keep tabs on the swift-changing Arctic is being jeopardized by geopolitical upheaval. Russia's war on Ukraine has meant scientists from the country, the largest Arctic nation, have been excluded from international collaboration. This has already undermined scientists' ability to track what's happening in the Arctic, according to a recent study. In the US, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to government climate science jobs is creating serious concern, especially as many measurement systems are maintained by the US. With less US expertise and fewer US scientists, 'it would become much, much harder to understand what's happening' at a vital time for the Arctic, said the University of Hamburg's Notz. What's happening in the Arctic is one of the starkest indications of 'how powerful we humans have become in changing the face of our planet,' Notz said. 'We are able to wipe out entire landscapes.'
