Arctic Temperature Could Be Up To 20 Degrees Hotter Than The Average, A Record Breaking Heatwave

The weather of the Arctic regions could be up to 20 degrees hotter than the average on Christmas Eve. The scientists said that this is a record-breaking heatwave.

Dr. Friederike Otto, a senior researcher at Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, told BBC News that the heatwave in this pre-industrial times would have been extremely rare. They expect it to occur about every 1,000 years.

Record temperatures as heatwave depletes Arctic ice https://t.co/WxIPUGnQDb

— Svein T veitdal (@tveitdal) December 24, 2016

The researchers said that they are very confident that the weather patterns were linked to anthropogenic climate change. They have utilized many various climate modeling approaches and observations.

Not. Good. Arctic is 40-50 degrees F warmer than usual. Its melting in Dec https://t.co/HyUzYIP7H6 #ActOnClimate #KeepItInTheGround #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/qxNoEKTmXv — Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) December 23, 2016

The record-breaking heatwave follows sea ice levels reaching record lows this 2016 and the seawater levels rising by almost 7.8 inches since 1870. In November and December, the temperatures in the Arctic were about 5 degrees Celsius higher than the average.

Dr. Otto said that if the globe is warming, the ice on the land and the sea ice drop, then the darker water and land are uncovered. He further said that the heatwave could occur every other year. He added that the sunlight is absorbed rather than reflected as it would be on the ice.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thorsten Markus, chief of NASA's Cryospheric Science Laboratory, said that the heat wave was "very, very unusual." He further said that the unnerving thing is that they saw something quite exactly the same a year ago. He even joked and said that "Santa is most likely overdressed for tonight and maybe in the future, they will see him in a light jacket or plastic mac," as noted by Independent.