June 18th, 2009 | By Nora Sawyer | Filed in Global Warming

Now that the International Polar Year is drawing to a close, scientists and others from the more than sixty participating nations are beginning to process and publish their findings.  Though there’s a lot of discouraging findings, including rising sea levels, shrinking ice caps, and increased carbon dioxide emissions from decaying organic matter exposed by melting permafrost, scientists are encouraged.

Photo by Andrew Woodward 2007

“The new evidence resulting from polar research will strengthen the scientific basis on which we build future actions,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud at the launch of the State of Polar Research report in Geneva.

But there is a lot to be concerned about.

Among other findings, researchers say they now have conclusive proof that the ice mass found on Antarctica and Greenland is diminishing, contributing to a worldwide rise in sea levels. The Arctic ice cap also shrunk to its smallest size over the summers of 2007 and 2008 since satellite record-keeping began.

Scientists also say that Arctic permafrost is melting, a worrying sign for officials committed to combating climate change. Results of polar research released just last week show that the average temperature of permafrost found in northern Russia has increased by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius over the past 35 years. The findings match an earlier study of Alaskan permafrost that discovered a temperature rise of about 0.5 to 2 degrees Celsius.

The vast swath of permafrost covering the Arctic Circle is known to hold massive quantities of organic material trapped beneath the permanently frozen ground. Scientists suspect that thawing permafrost will lead to much of this material decaying, releasing an enormous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and exacerbating the greenhouse effect.

(via International Polar Year Reveals Troubling Picture of Climate Change: Scientific American).

Photo by Andrew Woodward 2007

Tags: climate change, global warming, polar year