Arctic warming 3.5 times faster than rest of world – as security threats to UK ‘fundamentally changing’

The Arctic is warming 3.5 times faster than the global average, scientists have warned, raising new security threats for the UK. Melting Arctic ice is opening up more routes for shipping and military vessels, and the potential to drill for new reserves of gas, oil and natural minerals in an otherwise virtually unspoilt ecosystem. The continent has long been warming faster than the rest of the world. As the sea ice disappears, its white surface that reflects sunlight gives way to darker ocean underneath that absorbs the heat instead. Today the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warned the Arctic…