In a recent study conducted by Dmitry Yumashev and his team from the Lancaster University shows that the melting of the ice sheets in the Arctic Circle is causing the world economy to lose about $70 trillion. The studies is published in nature communications.
The team looked into the increase in the amount of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the melting of the permafrost. They also studied how such conditions could worsen when the sun's heat seem to penetrate more in the Earth's atmosphere due to the lack of sea ice that will reflect the heat away from the earth. They found that all these are interconnected and that all of them causes the world economy to suffer from a great loss. This figure is ten times more of the amount of the potential benefits that the world can get if they knock on the mineral resources in the Arctic.
"Climate Policy Implications of nonlinear decline of Arctic Land Permafrost and other cryosphere elements" is the study that brought to the world the shocking figure of what it could be losing to its battle against climate change.
"The Arctic Region is warming twice as fast as we predicted. This fact is manifested by the decrease in sea ice, glaciers and snow relative to all the benchmark measurements from the period of 1979 and 2005. These changes have accelerated global warming further into the feedback," Yumashev et al said. The results of their study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
"When carbon from the melting of the permafrost goes up into the air, it creates a permafrost carbon feedback (PCF). The decrease in the levels of the sea ice and land snow increases solar absorption in higher latitudes," he further added.
The study the group conducted is the first of its kind. They are the first to calculate the economic impact of the melting of the permafrost and the reducing of the albedo. The results of the study shows the destabilization of the natural systems and such disruption to what is normal gives birth to more problems. The man-made emission of carbon dioxide and the uncontrollable burning of fossil fuels only make the problems even worse.
"The world is still dealing with a time bomb, but it may not be as large as we imagined before," Yumashev said. There is still something that can be done to address such needs. If only the people around the world also help in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that goes in the atmosphere, the planet will be saved from total destruction.
The search for better ways to save mother Earth is now pushed by various governments and environmental groups around the world. A little bit more cooperation from the communities will make the efforts worth it.
