Science Ticker Climate

Tropics leave trace in Arctic warming

Warming temperatures affect Jakobshavn Glacier (shown) and others in Greenland. Some of that warming is driven by cooling temperatures in the tropical Pacific, a new study suggests.

W. T. Pfeffer

By Ashley Yeager

Cooling temperatures in the waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean may be responsible for some of the recent rapid warming of the atmosphere above northeastern Canada and Greenland. The finding, reported May 8 in Nature, suggests that half of the warming in the Arctic region is a result of natural forces, while the other half comes directly from the effects of human activities. The extent of human effects on Pacific temperatures is not yet clear, the scientists note.

About Ashley Yeager

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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