HOME          CATEGORIES          OUR TAKE

Utqiagvik, Alaska, Ground Zero for Climate Change

It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, but a computer algorithm at a weather station in the northern Alaskan town that used to be known as Barrow and is now named Utiagvik, doesn’t seem to mind. A recent story on Huffingtonpost by Ryan Grenoble told how the  National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) has been collecting weather data since the ‘twenties,” but equipment breaks down over time, so NCEI employs an algorithm to flag anomalous readings, and omit outliers from its reports. Recently NCEI noticed that data from Barrow was missing for over a year. Had their instruments broken down? Upon investigation NCEI scientists discovered that the temperatures had been recorded, but were so high that they weren’t reported. https://www.desmogblog.com/willfully-blind

Since 1979 when measurements began, average January-September temperatures in Barrow went up 1.9°F, about twice that in the rest of the U.S. But in October-December of this year, the temperature gain was 7.8, 6.9, and 4.7°F, so high the algorithm kicked in and withheld the data. Turns out the equipment wasn’t broken, the climate was. As the weather warmed up, more ice melted, which led to higher temperatures and still more ice melting, a cycle that led the Smithsonian to call Utiagvik (Barrow) “ground zero” for climate change. It’s a frightening glimpse into our future.

Comment on this article

ClimateYou moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SHARE THIS ARTICLE


More Posts Like This

CITY TECH BLOG

Understanding the Urgency of Climate Change By City Tech Blogger Michalis Photiou

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges humanity is currently facing. The consequences of climate changes have already begun to affect every aspect of our lives. In this essay, we will explore two of the many impacts of climate change. First, one of the most significant impact

CITY TECH BLOG

My Take on Climate Change By City Tech Blogger Yikai Wu

What changes have I seen in our climate? A very noticeable change that I have seen is the lack of snow. Since the start of the winter season, we have probably received snow around 4-5 times. And even during these “snow days”, all evidence of it having snowed

Take action in the fight against climate change