VATIS UPDATE Article

While researchers are claiming that the entire ecosystem is changing, a Norwegian meteorologist has also discovered that Norway was under a record thin ozone layer. The Southern Norway basked in unseasonably warm sunshine recorded with little ice in the Arctic and reports that the Barents Sea is nearly ice-free “It’s just as if there’s a little hole in the ozone layer right over Scandinavia,” said meteorologist Tarjei Breiteig.

Breiteig carried out calculations showing how extremely thin the ozone layer has been, based on data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and KNMI Climate Explorer. Researchers have been monitoring the ozone layer, part of the stratosphere that reduces the warmth of the sun, with satellites for 37 years. Never has so little ozone been measured over Scandinavia as in February. Tove Svendby, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, said she has full confidence in Breiteig’s calculations.

The Norwegian Polar Institute also reported “extreme warmth” in the Arctic this winter, resulting in seas that no longer freeze to ice in large areas. The temperature at the North Pole was 0°C (32°F) one day this winter, at least 30 degrees higher than normal. The US’ National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA reported that the spreading of sea ice in the Arctic in February was 1.16 million square kilometers less than viewed as normal. Record small amounts of ice were recorded in January.