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The Barents Sea, which exists in northern Norway, has been a unique marine ecosystem for decades. This is due to the immediate proximity of the sea to the Arctic region and to the annual shipment of sea ice. However, it now seems that part of the Arctic is too hot to deliver this ice. This event may also be responsible for a steady increase in salinity in the Barents. In other words, this sea becomes more similar to the Atlantic than to the frozen North.
These discoveries were reported in an article recently published in Nature Climate Change . The study documents a review of climatological and hydro graphological data extending from the 1970s to 2010, conducted by researchers from the Marine Research Institute, Tromsø, and the University of Bergen and Bjerknes Center for Climate Research in Norway.
claim that not only does the Barents Sea become less salty, but also less stratified.
The effect of climate change on the Barents Sea
Marine stratification is a phenomenon in which all the water of a single body is divided into layers. These layers consist of characteristics such as temperature, and also a little more literally, the chemical action of compounds such as salts. The different layers can, in addition, support different types of life, which means that the same sea could have more of a different type of ecosystem.
In the case of the Barents Sea, this stratification is renewed annually by an influx of melting sea. -ice. This event reflects an increase in freshwater, which vaguely "repels" the saltier water that was previously found there.
Freshwater also promotes seasonal ice formation in the same Barents, which keeps the sea at a temperature that should be or, rather, the range of this body has exposed for decades that Norwegian authorities have spent watching him.
However, it seems that the point where these boundaries are broken has arrived, inexorably.
The Tromsø / Bergen group reported that their badysis indicated that temperature and salinity levels have seen a remarkable rise from the year 2005, compared to the other decades evaluated.
What could happen to the Barents Sea in the future
turn, led to a partial reversal of the stratification previously observed in the Barents.
The report Nature Climate Change also suggests that the temperature and temperature gradients able to inhibit the formation of sea ice. Therefore, the Barents might soon look like the same. Atlantic in these terms. For example, the total loss of stratification could turn the sea into an essentially homogeneous saline body.
The effects of this potential shift in Barents' marine ecosystems can have profound effects on the surrounding area. However, it is not clear whether the nations bordering the sea will interpret them as completely harmful. This is because a Barents who looks more like the Atlantic can be one in which the saltwater fishing grounds will grow gradually over time. As a result, Barents can prioritize the possibility of economic benefits over ecological concerns.
On the other hand, the more negative implications of this report should not be ignored.
The study authors attribute the reduced influx of freshwater melting sea ice to a hot spot located elsewhere in the Arctic. This may be due to ice formation during the seasons usually badociated with these events.
Indeed, the total ice content of the Arctic Ocean has declined considerably in recent decades. The new report now suggests that this decrease could be responsible for record declines in sea ice from the Barents Sea in 2007 and 2008.
An up-to-date picture showing current levels of sea ice relative to the median of sea ice. past decades (This image can be updated regularly over time by clicking on the link). (Source: NSIDC )
The new research also suggested that the average sea ice flow in the Barents between 2010 and 2015 was reduced by 40% compared to that badociated with years from 1979 to 2009
The researchers claim that the concomitant freshwater loss can not be explained by other important factors, such as rainfall or snowfall on the Barents Sea or along its coastline
. means that the top layer of water in the sea has considerably less protection from the heat of the sun. This can eliminate even faster the cold and fresh layer of the sea, leaving only the saltiest water of the sea.
The literal change of the Barents Sea, documented in a new research paper on the climate, perhaps, is just one example. how other climates in the world can mutate over time.
In this case, the loss of marine stratification in this sea can bring, at least, short-term benefits to the inhabitants of the Barents area. However, people in other regions may need to be prepared to adapt to other, perhaps less favorable, effects of global temperature change.
Top image: The Barents Sea is located south of the Arctic Ocean. bordered by a few large islands in the Arctic and the northern coasts of Russia and Norway. (Source: Norman Einstein (supposedly based on copyright) @ Wikimedia Commons )
References
Barents Sea seems to have crossed a climatic tipping point, 2018, arstechnica https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/barents-sea-seems-to-have-crossed-a-climate-tipping-point/ (accessed July 2, 2018 )
S. Lind, et al. (2018) The hot spot of Arctic warming in the north of the Barents Sea is linked to the decrease in the import of sea ice. Nature Climate Change. 8: (7) pp.634-639.
E. Carmack, et al. (2015) Towards Quantifying the Increasing Role of Ocean Heat in Sea Ice Loss in the New Arctic. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 96: (12). pp.2079-2105.
C. J.C., et al. (2014) Climate trends in the Arctic observed from space. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. 5: (3). pp.389-409.
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