The Arctic and the Antarctic are Earth's freezers in the climate system. And so between those two extremes, our weather happens. So I've read just recently that the Arctic is warming roughly four times the average of the whole world. Another reason is that we have so much snow and ice locked up in polar regions. If that substantially melts, it means for one thing that sea levels will rise. That's a major climatic concern these days.
On this episode, Climate Scientist Steve Vavrus joins Nate to discuss the Arctic and its critical impact on climate science. Why are the effects of warming so extreme in the Arctic, and what are the implications for weather events and average temperatures on the rest of the planet? Do runaway arctic feedback loops mean disaster ‘Blue Ocean’ scenarios?
Steve explains why the answers to these questions aren’t as simple as they may seem and talks about the challenges and hopes he sees for the future of humans and global climate.
About Steve Vavrus:
Steve Vavrus is a Senior Scientist in the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He uses computer climate models and observational data to understand how our climate is changing across the world, including in Wisconsin. Extreme weather events are an important theme of his research, particularly how they might be affected by climate change. Steve is co-director of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) and has been a long-time member of its Climate Working Group. Steve received Ph.D. and Master's degrees in meteorology at the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor's degree in meteorology at Purdue University.
For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/35-steve-vavrus