It's Christmas Eve, and Santa will be loading up his sleigh. However, he might have quite a sweat on while he does this - news headlines today have included the story that temperatures at the North Pole may be 20°C above average today, which would break all records. I realise this isn't strictly related to hydrological change, but this is so interesting I think it is worth taking a quick festive look at. These sorts of temperature changes will no doubt have an influence on the hydrological cycle; as we know, warm air can hold more water.
Two weeks back, I touched on how 2016 has been a record breaking year for temperatures globally, but this heatwave event in the Arctic really is something else, likely a 1 in 1000 year event. The temperature at the North Pole today is about 0°C, which for Santa is very warm - he prefers the -20°C average. Scientists are confident these anomalous temperatures are a result of the influence of anthropogenic climate change. It's quite pleasing to see this story make the headlines today, as I think it is something the general public were not particularly aware of. Global public awareness of anomalous climate events and their link to anthropogenic warming can only be a positive thing - though I think the story only made the news due to it's link to Santa and Christmas! I don't think a temperature anomaly of 20°C in the Amazon would have been reported today....
I will leave the final words to Dr Thorsten Markus, chief of NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, who has discussed what is really the true issue of the day - Santa's sledding attire.:
"Santa is most likely overdressed. Maybe in the future we'll see him in a light jacket or plastic mac."
The Boxing Day sales could prove useful if this is the case. Happy Hydrological Christmas!
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