New analysis (a report with supporting video) from the World Wildlife Fund shows that melting Arctic ice is having profound impacts on all of us:



Report - Arctic Climate Feedbacks: Global Implications (PDF file)

New research indicates climate feedback mechanisms are a bigger risk than at first thought. American researchers at the University of Miami have shown that a warmer climate reduces the amount of low altitude clouds. These clouds are known to have a cooling effect, so any reduction caused by warming, will act as a feedback mechanism, increasing global warming. When the scientists tested different climate models, they found the Met Office's Hadley Centre computer model was the most accurate at reproducing cloud cover.

Meanwhile in Europe, scientists at the VU University Amsterdam, University of Sheffield and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences have found that Northern peatlands increase carbon emissions more than expected as the temperature rises. Such emissions are another feedback mechanism that will increase the rate of warming.

Environmental Research Web (clouds)
Environmental Research Web (peatlands)