Scientists Focusing on Siberia
Scientists are closely monitoring the land across northern Siberia these days. The large region has been warming faster than the rest of the planet in recent time. Over the past 30 years average temperatures have risen 1-3 degrees celsius (3-5 F).
The image below shows RSS global temperature trends over the past 30 years (microwave measurements from satellite). Note: The greatest warming has been in the far north.
As noted by the NASA Earth Observatory article, a few degrees increase in cold regions can produce dramatic changes..........
--Melting permafrost, which is releasing methane from peat bogs.
--Trees are tilting as they lose their firm, frozen footing.
--Rapid growth of recently stunted trees (indication of warming).
--More southern species of trees are making an appearance in northern areas.
--More fires that are larger in size.
The Siberian expedition.
Just last week, a team of American and Russian scientists helicoptered into a remote region of far northern-central Siberia for an expedition that focused on gathering data from the land and making observations. The results of this should be released soon.
Acknowledgment...
MSU/AMSU data are produced by Remote Sensing Systems and sponsored by the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program. Data are available at www.remss.com.
