Reduced seasonal sea-ice presence is already leading to greater shoreline exposure to open water and storm waves. These changes expose greater wave and erosion hazards for shoreline, infrastructure, waterfront structures, and cultural heritage sites in some places.
Extreme climate events are likely to continue to have severe effects on many ecosystem types. The global warming impacts on the polar regions will increasingly affect us all because of the coastal damage, extreme weather and their socio-economic consequences.
Find out more:
AMAP. (2011) Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA): Climate Change and the Cryosphere. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway. Xii + 538pp.
Carter, P. (2012) Arctic Summer Sea Ice Tipping Point. Video posting featuring Ted Scambos, Robbie Macdonald, Don Perovich, Mark Serreze and Vladimir Romanovsky.
Hansen et al (Submitted) Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change to Protect Young People and Nature. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
World Bank (2010) Turn down the Heat. Why a 4 degree centigrade warmer world must be avoided.