The measurements which have been made at Norwegian meteorologist stations in the Arctic, in the last two months of 2009 showed a major increase compared with average figures for the period. Figures from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute shows that air temperatures were between five and nine degrees higher than the normal for the season, NRK reports.
Mr. Vidar Eng from the Meteorological Institute’s office in Tromsø believes the high temperatures in the area come from a combined number of reasons, and first of all from the less amounts of ice and the higher temperatures in the sea water.
For all of 2009, the average temperature was three degrees higher than normal, NRK reports.
As BarentsObserver has reported, ice melting in the Arctic continues at high pace. New research indicates that climate change could lead to a total melting of Arctic ice already in 5-7 years. The Arctic ice melting in 2008 and 2009 was ranked as the second- and third-greatest decreases on record.
