Focusing on the arctic climate
(15 Feb 2012)
There is a need to find funding to carry out climate research in the Arctic. The warming of the climate is melting the ice coverage and creating new navigational sea routes within the northern regions. These new routes shorten the time required for sea transports and will inevitably bring about increasing commercial activities. The resulting increase in air pollution will have a strong effect on the vulnerable arctic ecosystem and that effect will be difficult to reverse. The increasing mining operations in Northern Finland will also be reflected in the air quality, but even without these additional issues, climate change will have the greatest global impact on precisely the Arctic region. Hannele Hakola, Research Professor for the Finnish Meteorological Institute and member of the Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Biosciences and Environment, is not a climate pessimist, even though time is running out.
The climate is warming as a direct result of human activities. Hakola believes that this fact has already been acknowledged by the science community. How could any respectable researcher claim otherwise?
“Significant financial interests are linked with climate change, and this fact may generate goal-directed research. It's obvious that when we talk about such a big issue, no research results are going to please all sides involved. Any practical climate measures we enact will swallow up funds; the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, for example, becomes extremely expensive for many actors. Therefore, the emissions will increase and we'll be unable to reduce them in the desired way,” says Hakola.
The research results gained by the science community should form a foundation on which we base our assessments concerning the future course of development and political decisions. Hakola’s wish is for researchers to play a more visible role in public discourse. “I'd like to see research results gain wider exposure also beyond the sphere of scientific publications. The research can't be used as a foundation if people know nothing about it.”
How difficult is it to transform research into concrete climate actions? “When enough people want something bad enough, it becomes easier. That's the answer. We have examples from earlier years that show us how rapidly measures of common interest were implemented in order to prevent pollution. Acid rain was generally accepted as being highly dangerous and, therefore, there was a common interest in reducing sulphur dioxide emissions. The discovery of the disappearance of the ozone layer also affected the use of freons."
Hakola has been involved in the VACCIA project, which ended in 2011. The project examined the effect of climate warming on the ecosystem, the quality of air and water, the biodiversity of nature, as well as primary production and nature-based tourism. Hakola’s focus within the project was on researching the movement of air masses and air pollution into the Finnish Lapland and, more specifically, the Pallas-Sodankylä region. Air quality, in terms of its level of purity or pollution, is closely connected to climate warming. How does the situation in Lapland look today?
“The nature of the North is extremely pure and we want to keep it that way. It's been purified over the past decades during which the matter has been systematically studied,” explains Hakola, but she is afraid that this development may begin to shift its direction.
“Air pollution traditionally travels to the Finnish Lapland from two directions. Metals arrive from the Kola region and nitrogen compounds from Europe. The travel patterns of these air masses are changing as the climate warms. To date, the sea has brought clean air to the region. Now, however, if shipping in the northern regions increases, this will mean that air pollution will also begin to drift in from the sea,” Hakola emphasises.
Ships produce black carbon, which pollutes the air. “It absorbs radiation and keeps heat within the atmosphere. When black carbon rains down, it reduces the reflection of radiation and increases the temperature of the ground."
Other unfortunate consequences of climate change also include drought, which will affect certain areas of the Earth, such as Southern Europe. This will, in turn, have its own effect on air quality.
“As a result of drought, increasing forest fires may weaken the air quality very rapidly and radically. Large forest fires cause the levels of impurities in the air to skyrocket immediately.”
How can the average person combat climate change? Finns are conscientious and feel easily guilty about their own consumption. But what difference, for example, do the minimal and efficient cars in Finland have compared to the hundreds of millions of Americans, who drive cars that were never even designed to be ecological? How is this reflected in our climate?
“We all have the opportunity to have an impact, although it is true that even greater changes can be achieved by affecting the emissions of the larger countries. We can't give up, and we must strive to find new ways and better technologies. Despite where we live, our climate is a shared one.”
Text: Marja Nousiainen