While it is unanimous amongst researchers that the arctic is warming along with the he rest of the planet, estimates continue vary due to many variables involved including timeframe and what is considered geographically the Arctic.

A team of researches from Norway and Finland published their results in Communications Earth & Environment, their findings that the Arctic has been warming 4 times faster than the rest of Earth at 0.75 degrees Celsius per decade.

For their study, they analyzed four sets of temperature data from satellites from 1979 to the present of the entire Arctic circle. Note that 1979 is when satellite data first became available.

Their results are concerning as previous estimates has the Arctic circle warming only twice as fast compared to the rest of the planet.

They also found that the rate of warming in the Arctic has not been uniform and differs from region to region. For instance, the Eurasian sector has seen warming of 1.25 degrees Celsius per decade, about seven times faster than the rest of the world.

While further investigation is needed, it is important to note that we must change our lifestyle for a more sustainable future because it is better to err on the higher estimations and correct ourselves than to choose the lower estimation because we are too lazy to make changes.

“Climate change is caused by humans. As the Arctic warms up its glaciers will melt and this will globally affect sea levels. Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all,” stated author, Antti Lipponen, of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

M Rantanen et al. The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979. Communications Earth & Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00498-3