Much of the Tundra has remained untouched but even so, it has not been immune to the effects of climate change. The Arctic has suffered from pollution, development by the oil and gas industry, and overfishing. Regions in which polar bears and walruses inhabit in the Arctic have warmed by nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900, and continue to warm two to three times faster than the average for the rest of the world. As a result, summer ice cover is shrinking, permafrost is melting, and coastlines have been exposed to erosion. Over the past 60 years, thickness and seasonal duration of sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased due to climate warming and change in Arctic circulation. Many animals such as polar bears and walruses depend on sea ice as a platform from which to rest and breed, thus, they are losing habitat. Polar bears are spending more time on land waiting for ice to form so they can hunt seals but because of the warming temperatures, some areas won’t freeze and as a result, some polar bears can suffer from malnutrition.
Climate change refers to the accumulation of man-made gases in the atmosphere that trap the sun’s heat close to the earth. Permafrost is a condition in the soil or rock where the temperature persists under 0 degrees Celsius for two consecutive winters and the intervening summer. Today, as temperatures increase, the Tundra has flipped from a carbon sink to a carbon contributor. Permafrost used to capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of photosynthesis, however, now CO2 is released as a result of the permafrost melting and dead plant material decomposing. In addition, the habitat of native animals is potentially altered as shrubs and spruce that formerly could not grow, thrive on the permafrost.
Climate change refers to the accumulation of man-made gases in the atmosphere that trap the sun’s heat close to the earth. Permafrost is a condition in the soil or rock where the temperature persists under 0 degrees Celsius for two consecutive winters and the intervening summer. Today, as temperatures increase, the Tundra has flipped from a carbon sink to a carbon contributor. Permafrost used to capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of photosynthesis, however, now CO2 is released as a result of the permafrost melting and dead plant material decomposing. In addition, the habitat of native animals is potentially altered as shrubs and spruce that formerly could not grow, thrive on the permafrost.