The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet, and its wildlife is being slowly poisoned by industrial toxins brought over by the wind and currents.
Scientists around the world are trying to figure out why 🧵
🇳🇴 The town of Longyearbyen in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, is known as one of the best places to see the Northern Lights.
But it’s also the fastest warming town on Earth.
Founded as a mining town in the early 1900s, Longyearbyen still has a mine and a coal-fired power station - the last in Norway 🏭
But things are about to change as the town prepares to fully shift to renewables in the coming years.
Near Longyearbyen, Kim Holmén, a professor of climate and environment, shows us large swaths of soil damaged by thawing permafrost🏔️
This process not only endangers roads and buildings across the Arctic but also releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Rising water temperatures and reduced sea ice appear to be impacting the Arctic Ocean’s food chain 🌊
Researchers say they are still unsure what is causing large-scale fluctuations in plankton but know it’s affecting the entire region’s marine and coastal ecosystems.
Ny-Ålesund - the northernmost human settlement on Earth - is also a year-round research station representing 18 scientific institutions from various countries 👩🔬
Scientists from France are studying the impact of industrial pollutants on seabird colonies 🪹
By taking blood samples and other measurements every year, they found some chemicals have decreased.
But there are new threats.
Want to know more about how scientists are helping to understand why the polar region is warming almost three times faster than the rest of the planet?
Watch our full report 👇
euronews.com/green/2022/07/…
#Ocean w/ @EU_MARE
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