The Arctic
Of all the regions of the global ocean, the Arctic is warming the fastest. Arctic sea ice is decreasing at an alarming eight percent every decade, and September 2007 saw a record low. Computer climate models predict even faster changes in the future, including the complete disappearance of summer sea ice before the turn of the century and the extensive melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
Sea ice is one of our most sensitive barometers of climate change. Fundamental changes to Arctic ice cover will have profound effects both locally and globally. We need to understand and monitor these changes so that we know what is likely to happen in the future.
Ice coring on the Greenland ice cap has provided scientists with valuable information on past climates because trapped in the snow are telltale signs of past atmospheric changes - researchers can tell from ice cores when we stopped using lead in petrol.
Conditions in the Arctic drive major ocean circulation patterns. North Atlantic Deep Water formation is an essential part of the North Atlantic Conveyor Belt, part of the global thermohaline circulation, and largely responsible for Europe's temperate climate. NERC scientists are investigating major changes to this circulation. See NERC's Rapid Climate Change Programme (RAPID).
The delicate, unique Arctic ecosystem is also of great interest to the scientific community. Understanding how life can thrive in such harsh environments is giving us insights into how life may have started on this planet.
Because of the importance of understanding this region and its interactions with the global Earth system, NERC is investing £15m over the period 2010-2016 in an Arctic Research Programme.