ST. PETERSBURG, March 10. /TASS/. The average annual temperature increase in the Arctic is related most of all to winter weather changes. According to the press service of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg), scientists came to this conclusion after detailed studies of modern climate change in the Western Arctic.
"The winter season has turned out to be the main actor of warming in the Western Arctic. Winter warming has made a major contribution to the annual average estimates. In particular, in the region's north, in October and February the warming was by more than four degrees Celsius in ten years," the press service said referring to the scientists.
AARI scientists and experts of the St. Petersburg State University analyzed data from regular instrumental meteorological observations obtained over a thirty-year period between 1991 and 2020 at more than 30 Russian and Norwegian meteorological stations in the Barents and Kara Seas.
"The scientists analyzed spatial and temporal features of warming in different parts of the region and in different seasons of the year. They found that the rate of warming (annual average estimates) increases from the southwest (the Barents Sea's ice-free part) to the northeast, reaching maximum values in the analyzed region's northern part," the press service said.
The low rate of warming in the Barents Sea may be associated with the process of "Atlanticization" - an increased intake of warm Atlantic waters into the region. In the northern part, the rate of warming is much higher, and this is explained by the "Arctic intensification" effect - a complex interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean in the presence of sea ice against the background of observed global warming, scientists said.
"A number of Russian and foreign scientists share the opinion that should the observed warming rates remain, the areas of long-term and seasonal ice in the central Arctic may shrink significantly," the press service said.