Background Information:
-Lies within the Arctic circle (66.5 degrees line of latitude)
-Part of Canada, Greenland, Russia, USA, Iceland, Norway, Sweden + Finland
-Jan temps= -35C, July Temps= -1.5C
Inceasing average Temperature are melting ice:
-Permanent sea ice has decreased by 14% between 2004 and 2005
-Until recently, 80% of solar radiation was reflected from the polar ice caps
-Now the ice has decreased and the volume of ocean has increased
-Oceans are darker than ice and snow and absorb more energy- converting it to heat
-This speeds up the warming effect, which melts more ice= POSITIVE ICE ALBEDO FEEDBACK
- At current rates, 50-60% of Arctic Ice will be lost by 2100
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