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The Vital Role of the Polar Regions in Climate Regulation

Distant, hostile, difficult to access, the polar regions remain largely unexplored. In addition to their still unsuspected biodiversity, they are an essential cog in the Earth’s climate machine, on the front line in the face of warming.

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To the north, the ice of the Arctic Ocean, called pack ice, offers the Earth a vast white reflective expanse allowing it to reflect part of the solar energy. “If it were to disappear, it would be replaced by a dark ocean which would absorb 90% of this solar energy. » Worrying. “Especially since the ice has already melted by two thirds in thirty years”underlines biologist and sailor Romain Troublé, general director of the Tara Océan Foundation, which will drift a futuristic polar base, the Tara Polar Station, in the ice floe for several winters.

To the south, Antarctica is surrounded by a storm ocean whose role in climate regulation is also major. “The Southern Ocean is the planet’s main oceanic carbon sink, absorbing 50% of CO2 captured by the earth’s oceans »indicates the doctor-explorer Jean-Louis Étienne, at the origin of the spectacular vertical ship Polar Pod, which should – a first! – allow humans to settle on its waves. To live in the howling fifties, summer and winter, to go around it twice. Because time is running out…

While these extreme environments are changing at high speed, these expeditions, to which the Head of State promised to contribute during the first international summit dedicated to glaciers and the poles, the One Planet Polar Summit, in November 2023 in Paris, must provide maximum information to the scientific community, while raising awareness of these issues among the general public.

2024-02-11 14:33:45
#Sciences #heading #poles

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