Arctic summer melt - news and views round-up
- 15 Aug 2012, 12:50
- Carbon Brief staff
Every year, sea ice in the Arctic grows and shrinks with the
seasons. But it's also affected by other things, including the
weather, which plays a large role in explaining changes from year
to year.
This means that although Arctic sea ice is
in long-term decline, that decline is not uniform. In
2007 the sea ice reached a record low, and the trend this year is
looking pretty similar.
In the run-up to the announcement of the sea ice minimum in
September, the amount of coverage on the Arctic tends to build. So
from now until the minimum is reached, we'll be regularly bringing
together some of the best links, to give you the latest sea ice
news and commentary all in one place.
Here are the links for Wednesday 15th August,
2012:
The
New Scientist reports that the extent of Arctic ice is smaller
than it was at this time in 2007, and we could be heading for a
record low. It says further study will probably conclude that
weather conditions are contributing to this year's low, but climate
change is also at work.
NSIDC reports that the last two weeks have seen fairly rapid
melting, tracking below the same time period in 2007. This pace
nearly doubled for a few days in early August during a major Arctic
cyclonic storm, but overall the weather conditions have shown no
consistent pattern. NSIDC reports that sea ice extent currently
stands at 4.9 million square kilometers
At the record low in 2007, 4.3 million square kilometers of ice
remained. Some scientists have begun making predictions about
how much sea ice will be left at this year's minimum -
Researchers from the University of Washington's Polar Science
Center expect 4.4 million square kilometers of ice will remain,
while the median of 23 predictions collected by theSea Ice Outlook
is 4.3 million.
NASA's Earth Observatory provides some
visual context to the discussion around this year's seasonal
sea ice decline. Its satellite images show ice retreat in the Parry
channel over the last month. The Parry channel forms part of the
Northwest Passage - a shipping route which opened during the 2007
sea ice low. At the moment, the entrance to the Northwest Passage
via the McClure Strait
remains blocked.