The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado said the sea ice reached its summer low point on Saturday, extending 1.6 million square miles (4.14 million square kilometers). With fall approaching and temperatures in the Arctic dropping, it’s unlikely more ice will melt, and so the 2016 Arctic sea ice minimum extent will likely be tied with 2007 for the second-lowest yearly minimum in the satellite record.
Advertisement
This year’s minimum level is almost 1 million square miles (2.56 million square kilometers) smaller than the 1979 to 2000 average.
This summer’s weather was cool, and it should have slowed ice loss in the Arctic. The ice reaches its maximum in March of each year.
What should have been a better year ended up being near the worst.
After 2012 when the record for lowest level of sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean was made, this summer Arctic has witnessed its second-lowest level. Extra heat in the upper ocean from this cycle is another possible factor contributing to the faster-than-expected Arctic ice melt this year, despite cooler summer temperatures.
“What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic… it looks increasingly likely that the dramatic decrease in Arctic sea ice is impacting weather in mid-latitudes and may be at least partly responsible for the more dramatic, persistent and damaging weather anomalies we’ve seen so many of in recent years.”
On average, sea ice reflects back 80% of the sun’s rays.
This has been an usual year for Arctic sea ice in several ways.
Scientists have interpreted the alarming data to mean different things. “Ice extent lost 34,100 square kilometers (13,200 square miles) per day compared to the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 21,000 square kilometers (8,100 square miles) per day”, the NSIDC said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claims that man-made global warming is the reason that the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has been steadily decreasing over the past few decades. “What we’ve seen this year is reinforcing that”.
But in August, two very strong cyclones crossed the Arctic Ocean along the Siberian coast.
With less sea ice, the oceans warm, resulting in climate change and more ice loss. But they believe it may have something to do with the thickness of the ice at the start of the melt season.
In the past, we had this remaining sea ice pack that was mostly thick, old ice. That study found that there has not been a record high in Arctic sea ice extents in any month since 1986. This is its second lowest level since records began.
Advertisement
When you think of the temperature records, it’s common to hear the statement that even when temperatures are increasing, you do expect a record cold here or there every once in a while.
