The combined amount of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is at its lowest total extent on record, according to a leading polar climate scientist.
Writing for “Beyond the Ice”, published by the British Antarctic Survey online, Dr Caroline Holmes also says that it is likely that the Arctic will be ice free earlier than the projected year of 2100.
"It's likely that the Arctic will be ice free in September, somewhere between 2030 and 2050. If we're talking about 2100, then we might expect it to be ice free for several months of the year,” she writes.
The article notes that there are “two record breaking moments taking place at the same time”.
The first is that the combined amount of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is at the lowest total extent on record.
Over the five days to February 13th this year, the combined extent was 15.76 million km².
This is less than the previous low from January 2023, which was 15.93 million km².
“An ingredient of this statistic is the record-breaking low of Arctic winter sea ice, which makes up the majority of sea ice at this time of year,”the article notes.
“ On February 13th, the area of Arctic sea ice was 13.64 million km², on track to under-shoot the previous 2017-low area of 13.93 million km²,”it states.
Feedback loops have been one of the factors causing the Arctic to warm four times faster than the rest of the planet, she explains.
"If, early in the summer as sea ice is melting, you kick that into action, you melt some ice earlier and you get melt ponds that are dark, then more heat is absorbed in those areas and this reinforces back to melt more ice. It's becoming locally warmer," she writes,
These feedback loops have been one of the factors that have seen the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.
Another major influence is the atmosphere, and temperature.
Arctic temperatures closely relate to global temperatures, and 2024 temperatures broke all records.
Read the full article on Linked In here
