Winter fun in the park

POLAR VORTEX: Too high combustion of hydrocarbons (oil, coal, gas) has triggered the climate change. In addition to global warming various irregularities in climate have increased.

Polar vortex – a large circular mass of cold air is a normal pattern close to poles. Past years polar vortex has weakened and sent away bursts of cold Arctic air. These cold fronts have remained even weeks over certain areas.

---

SNOW: Snow is water – or more accurately mass of tiny ice crystals. In the nature they form in the atmosphere, typically in the clouds. Their shape depends on the temperature, moisture, air movement and other parameters and how they fall before landing to ground. It is said that all snowflakes are different.

Changing of snowflakes does not end to landing. If they land on water they melt or start forming slush, a form of wet snow. If they land on dry and cold surface, snow starts accumulating to piles, which wind may move around. Also changes in surrounding moisture and temperature starts metamorphosis – changing the structure of the snow. During Arctic winter snow on the ground may transfer from large- airy and powder like masses to compact – almost ice and many other forms in between.

Many mountains and Arctic and Antarctic regions have been covered by snow and glaciers since past ice age. Past decades the rate of melting of those “eternal” layers of snow and ice has increased. As snow is white, it reflects large part of sun light back to space. Doing so it helps to keep global temperature lower. As area of snow-covered sea and ground shrinks, the revealed darked sea and ground absorbs more heat and speeds up the global warming.

To slow this down, there are areas in the Alps, where glaciers have been covered with white blankets. All slowing down is important, but most efficient way is to produce less greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, ozone, etc). We all can affect to that by consuming less and acting sustainably.

---

ARCTIC: Technically Helsinki – the capitol of Finland is on south coast and hence not in the Arctic. In Finland only the northernmost counties, Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu are part of the Arctic. Arctic ocean and lands north of the Arctic Circle are called the Arctic. Areas surrounding the South Pole are referred as the Antarctic.

However, the cold air mass, that has been locked over Scandinavia for over two months from the end of 2023, originates from the Arctic and has made the weather all through Finland to be Arctic. Due to open seas not far from the coast the cold air feels cooler on the skin, than the thermometer shows. Moist cold feels more freezing, than dry cold. According to weather services -12^o C close to coast has felt on skin like -21^o C and on windier moment -16 ^o C feels like -33 ^o C. 

On the other hand, dry cold is really hard on respiratory systems and mouth and nose should be covered in dry cold, so that some moisture would form to the cloth, to moist the breathing air a bit. Wet or dry, protection of skin (face and hands included) is vital to avoid frost bites – if the temperature is around -20^o C, the difference to normal body temperature is over 50 degrees Celsius.

---

ARCTIC COUNCIL: Opposed to the southern Antarctica the northern Arctic regions have been at least partiall populated for at least hundreds of years. So, the Arctic area has been governed by the countries of the area. The legal status of the coldest continent was agreed upon by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other contracts. 

It took as late as 1991, when the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) signed the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). The actual Arctic Council was formed by the 1996 Ottawa Declaration. 

The council operates and between the governments of the member nations to co-ordinate various themes of the Arctic including nature, trade, indigenous issues and transport. Many non-arctic states are there as observing members, that do not have a right to vote. Since 2022, the operation of the Arctic Council has been impacted by the Russian invasion to Ukraine.

A. YOU

A1. Snow. Have you experienced changing of snow – yourself or maybe in a movie, stream or series? How for example when close to 0^o C snowflakes fall large and fluffy and it is easy to make a snowman out of them. And then, if overnight the temperature drops to -7^o C, snowman gets an ice surface and you cannot roll snowballs any more. Or in the spring, when the snow starts melting on warmer days and turns to heavy slush. Why is that? What changes then? What is snow?

B. SOCIETY

B1. Snow and housing. Heating the houses is considerable cost in the cold winter days. When temperature gets suddenly close to 0^o C after blizzards and a colder period, the house owners in the Nordic cities may get worried. Why would that be? Think about changes in the composition of snow and where it also snows? If you need further assistance, see “TIPS”, below.

C. REVALUING NATURE

C1. Arctic. The areas close to the cold poles of Earth are not just vast snow deserts. They are also linked to many food chains – some of which cover large areas and interact with even tropical regions. Due to harsh natural conditions lot of the Arctic has been saved from industrial activities. With global warming also these demanding areas may be easier to access. Arctic nature is sensitive and some damages may take long to repair. 

An intergovernmental organ called the Arctic Council was formed to agree on Arctic topics. Is it important to have such international organs? Why / why not? What other international organs do you know? Why do they exist?

DISCLAIMER AND CITATIONS:

All gif-icons here have been produced by DebaTales.com.

The map with red Africa, Asia and Europe and blue Scandinavia base to weather data of EU Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), but is simplified.

Click the bolded heading by the triangle to open the drop down TIP.

Snow and housing:

When temperature rises close to zero or to plus degrees in Celsius, snow gets wetter and heavier. If there is a thick layer of snow on an even roof, it may get so heavy, that weight of the snow can break some structures.

If the roof is sloping, water may make the heavier snow to slide off the roofing and to fall down by itself. If there are pedestrians below and the building is high, injuries or even death are possible.

Either case is not recommendable. So, it is best to act in advance, once the snow is drier, it is also lighter and easier to drop down in a controlled way – keeping people off the drop zone, while in action.

Snow needs to be bit wet, before it can be rolled into snowballs. So best temperatures to make snowmen is around zero degrees Celsius.

Cold snow is dry and makes funny crunching sounds, when you walk on it. But it does not stick together so, that it would remain tight enough, if you would try to roll it to a ball.

Polar vortex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_vortex

Snow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow

Arctic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic

Arctic Council: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Council

Move to other posts with same tags than in this post: