Scientists provide conclusive proof that humans are causing polar warming

Washington, Oct 31 : A new research has provided conclusive proof that human activity is responsible for significant warming in both polar regions.

The research was undertaken by a team of scientists led by University of East Anglia's (UEA's) Climatic Research Unit.

Previous studies have observed rises in both Arctic and Antarctic temperatures over recent decades but have not formally attributed the changes to human influence due to poor observation data and large natural variability.

Moreover, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had concluded that Antarctica was the only continent where human-induced temperature changes had yet to be detected.

Now, a newly updated data-set of land surface temperatures and simulations from four new climate models show that temperature rises in both polar regions are not consistent with natural climate variability alone and are directly attributable to human influence.

The results demonstrate that human activity has already caused significant warming, with impacts on polar biology, indigenous communities, ice-sheet mass balance and global sea level.

"This is an important work indeed," said Dr Alexey Karpechko of UEA's Climatic Research Unit.

"Arctic warming has previously been emphasized in several publications, although not formally attributed to human activity. However in Antarctica, such detection was so far precluded by insufficient data available. Moreover, circulation changes caused by stratospheric ozone depletion opposed warming over most of Antarctica and made the detection even more difficult," he added.

"Since the ozone layer is expected to recover in the future, we may expect amplifying Antarctic warming in the coming years," he further added.

ANI