Eurasian Climate Changes Are Studied

Russian and U.S. scientists are studying climatic changes across northern Europe and Asia to better predict Earth’s weather patterns.

Purdue University Climate Change Research Center scientist Laura Bowling is co-principal investigator on two National Aeronautics and Space Administration-funded Northern Eurasia projects.

One study examines interactions of ice cover, water, land use and climate, while the other looks at how carbon emissions are affected by changes in lake and wetland areas.

We have a lot of evidence that warming already has started in the Arctic region, of which northern Eurasia is a part, Bowling said. Once you start melting the snow and ice, you’ve reduced the Earth’s protective layer, and then the surface warms faster.

Because of glacier and iceberg melt-off into the Arctic Ocean, increasing amounts of fresh water are flowing into salt water. In that way, climate change — often thought of as global warming — might also cause cooling in some areas.

Theoretically, according to some oceanographers, if you dump enough fresh water into the Arctic Ocean, you can shutdown deep water systems in the north Atlantic, stopping ocean circulation, and then England freezes, Bowling said.

NASA is funding both 3-year studies.