Polar bears in the Arctic

Polar bears in Nunavut - a vast territory of northern Canada that stretches across most of the Canadian Arctic. Image courtesy of Getty Images.

Why increased rainfall in the Arctic is bad news for the whole world

Before the end of this century, most of the Arctic will for the first time receive more rain than snow across a whole year. That’s one of the key findings of a new study on precipitation in the Arctic which has major implications – not just for the polar region, but for the whole world.

The Conversation's logo

This article appears in The Conversation.

While a reduction in frozen ocean surface is one of the most widely recognised impacts of Arctic warming, it has also long been anticipated that a warmer Arctic will be a wetter one too, with more intense cycling of water between land, atmosphere and ocean. The shift from a frozen region towards a warmer, wetter Arctic is driven by the capacity of a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture, by increased rates of evaporation from ice-free oceans, and by the jet stream relaxing.

The Arctic water cycle is expected to shift from a snow-dominated one towards a rain-dominated one during the 21st century, although the timing of this is uncertain. Now, a team of scientists have published a study in the journal Nature Communications which suggests that this shift will occur earlier than previously projected. The effect will be particularly strong in autumn, with most of the Arctic Ocean, Siberia and the Canadian Archipelago becoming rain-dominated by the 2070s instead of the 2090s.

Warmer and wetter isn’t necessarily better

Such a profound change to the Arctic water cycle will inevitably affect ecosystems on land and in the ocean. You might intuitively expect that a warmer and wetter Arctic would be very favourable for ecosystems – rainforests have many more species than tundra, after all. But the plants and animals of the Arctic have evolved for cold conditions over millions of years, and their relatively simple food web is vulnerable to disturbance.

For example, warmer temperatures can cause larval insects to emerge earlier, before the fish species that feed upon them have hatched. More rainfall means more nutrients washed into rivers, which should benefit the microscopic plants at the base of the food chain.

However, this also makes rivers and coastal waters more murky, blocking light needed for photosynthesis and potentially clogging filter-feeding animals, including some whales or sharks. Brackish water typically supports fewer species than either freshwater or seawater, so increasing flows of freshwater offshore may well reduce the range of animals and plants along Arctic coasts.

Further into the Arctic Ocean, there are more reasons to doubt the potential benefits of warmer temperatures and greater freshwater circulation. The dissolved constituents of rainfall, river water and melting snow and ice reduce the alkalinity of Arctic surface waters, which makes it harder for marine organisms to build shells and skeletons, and limits chemical neutralisation of the acidifying effects of CO₂ absorbed in seawater.

At the same time, rivers flowing through degrading permafrost will wash organic material into the sea that bacteria can convert to CO₂, making the ocean more acidic. Fresh water also essentially floats on denser seawater.

This causes the ocean to become stratified, impeding exchanges of nutrients and organisms between the deep sea and the surface, and restricting biological activity. Therefore the likely impacts of a warmer, wetter Arctic on food webs, biodiversity and food security are uncertain, but are unlikely to be uniformly positive...

Dr Richard Hodgkins, a Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography in the School of Social Science and Humanities, explains why increased rainfall in the Arctic is bad news for the whole world in The Conversation. 

Read the full article here.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 21/258

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2021 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022, and 10th in both the Guardian University League Table 2022 and the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

Categories