The role of glaciers in the processes of climate warming
P.G. Kovadlo1, A.Yu. Shikhovtsev1, S.A. Yazev1,2
1Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the RAS, Irkutsk, Russia
2Astronomical Observatory of Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia
Keywords: climate, temperature, rate of warming, heat content, melting ice
Abstract
We analyze the process of an increased, in comparison with other regions, rate of warming in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent areas. The visible aspect of the cause of the phenomenon is a decrease in the average thickness of ocean ice and, as a consequence, an increase in the flow of heat from the water through the ice, which heats the lower air layer. In addition, in the process of losing the ice mass of perennial floating glaciers, the heat consumption for their melting decreases. The combined effect of these two factors has provided the current rise in temperature in the polar zone, in a linear approximation, by more than 8 °C. Note that inter-latitudinal air heat exchange does not intensify in this process due to a decrease in meridional temperature gradients.
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