The broken Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is litter with the carcasses of at least 200 Greenland caribou who have crave to death . The reason behind this freak die - off , researchers say , is the planet ’s mounting clime crisis .
ecologist at the Norwegian Polar Institute have carried out a census of Svalbard ’s reindeer population every year since 1978 when Greenland caribou were reintroduced to the Brøggerhalvøyapeninsula . Their latest sight has found the bragging drop in numbers see yet .
Along with discover hundreds of idle body during their survey , the researchers notice that many calfskin were underweight and undernourished .
TheNorwegian Polar Instituteused data to show that milder wintertime led to dramatically heavier rain over the island that make up Svalbard . The rainwater settles on the tundra cause the ground to become icy and bad to pervade . As a result , it is difficult for the reindeer to feed on vegetation .
“ The reindeer graze all over Svalbard , and in winter they dig up solid food from the tundra . They can dig through snow , but not ice , ” Åshild Ønvik Pedersen explicate toNRK , Norway ’s national broadcaster .
“ It is scary to find so many deadened animals . This is a terrific example of how clime variety touch nature . It ’s just sad , ” he added .
Some of the Greenland caribou , however , have conform their demeanor to confront the unexampled challenges . For instance , investigator observed that herds in Brøggerhalvøya have started grazing the shoreline , consuming seaweed and kelp , and higher - rest steep mountains .
The Arctic is feeling the sting of climate change more right away and gravely than anywhere else on the satellite . According to the NOAA , control surface air temperature in the Arctic are warming at a rate twice as tight as warming across the rest of the satellite . Svalbard is specially vulnerable to these changes . The archipelago ’s tumid settlement , Longyearbyen , issaid to bethe quickest - warming town on Earth .
This is all the more worrying because what happen in the Arctic does n’t stay in the Arctic . As the region warms up and its ice melts , it loses its power to reflect the Sun ’s heat , thereby warming the climate even further . The unfreeze polar ice hood also lead to rise sea temperatures , which will causecatastrophic damageto human settlements and infrastructure in routine .
This is before we even moot how these turbulentchanges will move biodiversityand the people who depend upon these living resource . Most scientists agree that we are on the brink ofEarth ’s sixth mass extinction effect . A number of factors are driving this trend , although almost all are related to human activity , such as disforestation , poaching , defilement , loss of habitat , and climate change .
