Arctic Temperatures to Grow Twice as Fast – Russian Ministry

MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) –Temperatures in the Arctic will warm up twice as fast as in the rest of the world this century, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has warned.

“In the 21st century, the temperature in the Arctic – the average [speed] of global warming – will rise 2-2.5 times faster,” the ministry’s center responsible for monitoring meteorological trends, Antistikhiya, said in its annual report.

The ministry’s center forecasts that the average temperature around the globe will jump by 2.8 degrees Celsius this century, while in the Arctic region the increase will be around 7 degrees.

Russia’s Arctic territory is home to its nuclear ice-breakers and Navy vessels, as well as facilities that might pose danger to the population in the event of a natural disaster.

The center earlier reported that global warming in Russia was 1.5-2 times greater over the past century than in the rest of the world, and has continued to speed up over the past decade.