Photo: ReutersIcy Arctic islands north of Norway are warming faster than almost anywhere on Earth and more avalanches, rain and mud may cause "devastating" changes by 2100, a Norwegian report warns. The thaw on the remote Svalbard islands, home to 2300 people and where the main village of Longyearbyen is 1300km from the North Pole, highlights risks in other parts of the Arctic from Alaska to Siberia. "A 10 degree warming, with the implications for Arctic nature, ice-dependent species, will be devastating," Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen told Reuters. Temperatures on Svalbard would stay around current levels only if governments make unprecedented cuts in global emissions, the report said. Inger Hanssen-Bauer, head of the Norwegian Centre for Climate Services, which produced the report, said the findings were a warning for the rest of the Arctic.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 04, 2019 21:11 UTC