Slow Arctic Sea Ice Build-up Could Mean Increased Melting This Summer
08.02.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Ice & Snow, Arctic
The thinner and more fragile sea ice cover on the Arctic Ocean might translate into increased melting in the summertime, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). According to the NSIDC, the problem is that the ice is not growing fast butrather it’s melting at an increasingly faster rate.
In January of this year, sea ice grew by about 34,000 km² a day, about one-third the pace of ice growth during the 1980s, and under the average ice growth speed for the first decade of the 21st century.
Slowing Arctic ice build-up in the winter might eventually result in reinforced Arctic ice breakdown in the summer, exchanging the sun-reflecting sea ice surface for sun-absorbing dark-colured sea water.
This winter, the unusually warm December temperatures resulting from the Arctic oscillation were followed by cooler January temperatures once the phenomenon subsided. Nevertheless, sea ice cover remained below normal levels over much of the Atlantic sector, although the Pacific side of the Bering Sea showed above-average sea ice extent.
Over the past three years, the Arctic has witnessed its lowest sea ice extents since the beginning of satellite-records history in 1979.
