This meant that by the end of May, the extent of the Arctic sea ice cover had already hit end-of-June average levels. For the Guardian, Vidal points to Wadhams’ new book “A Farewell to Ice”, to be released September 1, as a daring but worthwhile position on the topic of climate change. NASA researchers said it started with a record-low maximum ice extent in March and a lot of loss in May. Walt Meier spoke to WAMC from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and said the Arctic acts as the Earth’s air-conditioning unit.
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Record-breaking warm temperatures in the first half of 2016 have primed the Arctic for another summer of low sea ice cover, said NASA on Friday. “It’s still in a continued decline over the long term”, said Meier. “It’s just not going to be as extreme as other years because the weather conditions in the Arctic were not as extreme as in other years”.
The most important thing for scientists that have accepted the declining extent of Arctic sea ice is to develop new ways of measuring it. Ice thickness can be measured using ships and submarines, but scientists would like to be able to do so using satellites.
The sea ice levels are steadily decreasing due to global warming.
Arctic sea ice has varied terrain in the summer months, as ridges and melt ponds form and floes break apart. Given that 10% of sea ice in the Arctic is above the water, with 90% below, it’s important to understand the volume and density of the ice.
“If you get the right atmospheric conditions during those two months, they can really accelerate the ice loss”, Meier explained.
Observations (black) and SIPN forecasts (red) of Arctic September sea ice extent.
‘If you don’t, they can slow down any melting momentum you had.
So now that scientists react to global warming with an nearly charming amount of indifference (the ice caps are melting, this isn’t news), it’s about finding different ways to measure the amount of ice near our poles.
Change is inevitable, but global warming and climate change are transforming the Earth’s landscape in a very rapid phase, causing panic worldwide.
Cryosphere lab chief Thorsten Markus says scientists have a good handle on the sea ice area change.
Wagner says what is happening in the Arctic is not something that will impact humanity in the far off future because the planet is not changing; it is changed.
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The satellite called Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will be using lasers and a “precise detection instrument”.
