Why the Arctic is Important for Climate Stability

The arctic is very important in maintaining global climate stability due to a few regions.

First of all, being the coldest place on Earth, the arctic maintains the flow of the ocean conveyor belt and important ocean currents that distribute heat energy and nutrition around the planet, including the gulf stream. If ice in the arctic melts and reduces the salinity of water at the North Pole, the water there will no longer sink to the bottom of the ocean and flow in the pattern of a convection current. This impedes currents at other places of the world and interferes with the distribution of warmth, which may cause unusual temperatures somewhere else in the world.

Second of all, the region is one of the most reflective on the Earth. Being so reflective, arctic ice helps reduce the heat Earth’s surfaces absorb from solar radiation by a large amount. The process in which the arctic ice reflects incoming solar radiation is called the albedo effect. It is through this process that the Earth maintains a reasonable of heat absorption from incoming solar radiation while reflecting the rest to prevent overheating.

If ice in the arctic melts, than the arctic would lose both its function as the maintainer of global ocean currents and the place at which solar radiation is reflected back into space to maintain the temperatures of the Earth. This can threaten global systems.