Impacts of climate change in the Arctic

The Arctic plays a crucial role in global climate change. It is a sensitive indicator of change and its snow and ice features are good integrators of change. It also stores long-term climatic records in its glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet. The Arctic also affects the global climate directly through interactions between its atmosphere, ice cover, and oceans, and through a number of important feedback processes. Practically all climate models predict an amplification of the global greenhouse effect in the Arctic. Global greenhouse warming affects the Arctic environment by melting ice and thawing permafrost. Practically all the snow and ice features of the Arctic will be affected in one way or another. The extent and thickness of the seasonal snow cover, sea ice, permafrost, glaciers and river and lake ice are all expected to decrease as the climate warms. These changes in turn will affect the polar ecosystems with their distinct fauna and flora. Socio-economic consequences to populations, industry, and lifestyles will be inevitable. Not all of these changes are necessarily negative as is explained.