September 22nd, 2009 | By Nora Sawyer | Filed in Arctic Animals, Conservation, Current Events, Global Warming, IN THE NEWS, SCIENCE

Seals are among the species threatened by warming oceans

One of the things I get asked most often when I tell people about writing for Arctic Kingdom is, “Is there any truth to this ‘Global Warming’ thing?”

I like to see it as a sort of touching optimism. The news I read every day contains more and more bad news about melting glaciers, endangered animals, and changing weather patterns all over the world. The arctic we see on our expeditions is changing, with warmer summers, less ice, and rising sea temperatures. It would be nice if it were all a matter of opinion, but the evidence seems clear: the world’s climate is being transformed.

And the scientific community agrees. In a recent issue of the Journal Science, scientists around the globe reviewed evidence from the International Polar Year, concluding that climate change threatens species throughout the Arctic.

“It seems no matter where you look — on the ground, in the air, or in the water — we’re seeing signs of rapid change,” said biologist Eric Post of Penn State University.

The report says that a warming of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 150 years has already caused dramatic consequences.

It cautions that further changes resulting from the projected six-degree warming over the next century will be difficult to predict.

Ivory gulls, ringed seals, polar bears and narwhals are examples of species with a small distribution and specialized habitats, leaving them vulnerable to being the first species to suffer from climate change.

via Earth Week:New Arctic Emerging From Climate Change.

Tags: arctic, arctic science, climate change, global warming, polar year