Some scientists have predicted that the effects of global warming will be amplified and first noticed in the polar regions. The 10 warmest years in meteorological record-keeping have all occurred since 1983, with eight of the years occurring since 1990. Sea levels worldwide have risen an average of 9 inches in the last century. In a series of three reports issued earlier this year, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that sea levels will rise another 3.5 to 34.6 inches by 2100 due to warmer water temperatures and melting ice. Last June, Barrow experienced its first-ever thunderstorm.
Thunderstorms usually occur in warmer climates and are extremely rare along the Arctic coast.
Even in midsummer, about half the nights in Barrow dip below freezing. Subsistence hunting remains the primary way of life on Point Barrow, but Inupiat hunters report that cellars dug into permafrost to store caribou and whale meat are beginning to thaw. Local officials worry that they may eventually have to provide refrigerated storage facilities for the caribou and marine mammals harvested by residents. Other Alaskan natives, including Inuit fishermen, have reported that with less ice and warmer water they are seeing a change in the species of fish and ocean mammals in the region. The U.N. climate reports, which more than 700 of the world's leading scientists participated in producing, concluded that there is a scientific consensus that global temperatures are increasing, that human activities are an important cause of climate change, and that the potential consequences may be catastrophic.