'Arctic Amplification' Cause North Pole Ice Melt

New studies showed that the persistent conditions in the atmosphere has one possible cause for the ice melt runoff and rising temperatures near the North Pole: a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification.

Greenland's 2015 melt records consistent with 'Arctic amplification': ENN https://t.co/v6FOCQwJ1P pic.twitter.com/MQ5t7TuWA8 #climate

— EcoInternet (@ecointernet2) June 10, 2016

According to the study published in Nature Communications, the effects of rising temperature in Greenland is one of the effects of the phenomenon, which has been causing melted ice. This theory explains the continuation of the ice melt in the opposite poles: as the Earth heats up, darker spots in the ocean that are uncovered absorb more solar radiation, resulting to even warmer waters - therefore warming the sea and continuing the melting cycle.

The waters could balance more evenly with the water farther south, which increases the speed and intensity of the jet stream, brining the hotter air farther north. This is how the Arctic amplification affect polar regions, where faster warming already put researchers into studying the impact of ice melts on sea levels. With the effects already in motion, CS Monitor noted that the atmospheric system on Earth could push such effects even further.

Marco Todesco, lead author of the study and professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory said, "If loss of sea ice is driving changes in the jet stream, the jet stream is changing Greenland, and this, in turn, has an impact on the Arctic system as well as the climate. It's a system, it is strongly interconnected and we have to approach it as such."

Tech Times noted that Greenland has the one of the largest ice-sheets in the world - second only to Antarctica. That being said, if all of the ice here were to melt, sea levels across the globe would rise at an average 23 feet - enough to bury cities underwater. There have been debates whether or not Arctic amplification caused the increased melting rates in Greenland, nevertheless, researchers believed that evidence point to this direction, and further study is needed to measure how this pattern continues over time.