GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Environment Conservation
Source: NYTimes
Context: The Arctic Report Card for 2023, published by NOAA, reveals the Arctic experiencing its warmest summer on record, with temperatures rising four times faster than elsewhere.
Key Highlights of the Report:
| Key Highlights | Details |
| Record High Temperatures | The 2023 summer in the Arctic was the warmest on record. The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average since 1979 due to climate change |
| Impact of Rising Temperatures | Unprecedented wildfires occurred, leading to community evacuations. Decline in sea ice extent, severe floods, food insecurity, and rising sea levels. |
| Direct impacts on ecosystems, human health, and cultural practices. | |
| Thawing of Subsea Permafrost | Warmer ocean temperatures accelerate the thawing of subsea permafrost. |
| The release of methane and carbon dioxide contributes to global warming and exacerbates ocean acidification. | |
| Food Insecurity Due to Salmon Decline | Western Alaska experienced significantly reduced populations of Chinook and chum salmon. Populations were 81% and 92% below the 30-year mean, respectively. |
| Impact on Indigenous communities relying on salmon for sustenance. Cultural, food security, and economic implications. | |
| Wildfires in Arctic Regions | Canada witnessed its worst wildfire season on record, affecting 40% of its Arctic and Northern land mass. High temperatures and dry conditions led to over 10 million acres burned in the Northwest Territories. |
| Glacier Thinning and Flooding | Rising temperatures caused dramatic thinning of the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska over the past 20 years. In August 2023, a glacial lake burst through its ice dam, causing unprecedented flooding and severe property damage in Alaska’s Juneau. |
| Greenland Ice Sheet Melting | Despite above-average winter snow accumulation, the ice sheet lost roughly 350 trillion pounds of mass between August 2022 and September 2023. Greenland’s ice sheet melting is the second-largest contributor to sea-level rise. |
India’s engagement in the Arctic:
- India’s engagement with the Arctic began when it signed the Svalbard Treaty in February 1920 in Paris between Norway, the US, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Ireland, and the British overseas Dominions and Sweden concerning Spitsbergen. Ever since then, India has been closely monitoring all the developments in the Arctic region.
- India initiated its Arctic research program in 2007with a focus on climate change in the region. The objectives included studying teleconnections between the Arctic climate and the Indian monsoon, to characterize sea ice in the Arctic using satellite data, and to estimate the effect on global warming.
- India already has a research station in the Arctic, Himadri, for the research work.
Also in the News:
India’s Year-round Presence in Arctic
Source: IE
India has launched its first winter expedition to Himadri, its Arctic Research Station at Ny-Ålesund in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The station, which was previously operational for about 180 days annually, will now remain operational throughout the year. This move makes India one of the few countries to operate its Arctic research bases during winter.
India’s first Arctic Winter Expedition, led by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), will begin year-round observations in Svalbard, the world’s northernmost inhabited place. Challenges include limited space, harsh climate, and geopolitical complications. The expedition aims to better understand climate change, polar-tropical climate teleconnections, and impacts on India’s weather patterns.
For: India unveils its Arctic policy: Click Here
About NOAA:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (HQ: Washington, D.C.; Founded: 1970) is based scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce, a United States federal government department.
About Arctic Report Card:
It is issued annually since 2006, and provides timely, peer-reviewed information on the current state of various components of the Arctic environmental system in comparison to historical records.
Insta Link:
Arctic Report Card: The Arctic Is Becoming Wetter and Stormier
Prelims Links:
The term ‘IndARC’, sometimes seen in the news, is the name of (USPC 2015)
(a) an indigenously developed radar system inducted into the Indian Defence
(b) India’s satellite to provide services to the countries of the Indian Ocean Rim
(c) a scientific establishment set up by India in the Antarctic region
(d) India’s underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region
Ans: D
Which of the following statements is/are correct about the deposits of ‘methane hydrate’? (UPSC 2019)
- Global warming might trigger the release of methane gas from these deposits.
- Large deposits of ‘methane hydrate’ are found in the Arctic Tundra and under the sea floor.
- Methane in the atmosphere oxidizes to carbon dioxide after a decade or two.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Ans: (d)
