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PrintWASHINGTON — Crucial Arctic sea ice this summer shrank to its second-lowest level on record, continuing an alarming trend, scientists said Tuesday.
The ice covered 1.74 million square miles on Friday, marking a low point for this summer, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. In the summer of 2007, the sea ice covered only 1.59 million square miles, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1979.
Arctic sea ice, which floats on the ocean, expands in winter and retreats in summer. In recent years it hasn't been as thick in winter.
Sea ice is crucial to worldwide weather patterns, both serving as a kind of refrigerator and reflecting the sun's heat. Given recent trends, triggered by man-made global warming, scientists warn that within five to 10 years the Arctic could be free of sea ice in the summer.
Even though the sea ice didn't retreat this year as much as last summer, "there was no real sign of recovery," said Walt Meier of the snow and ice data center. This year was cooler and other weather conditions weren't as bad, he said.
"We're kind of in a new state of the Arctic basically, and it's not a good one," Meier said. "We're definitely sliding towards a point where the summer sea ice will be gone."
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So is this a cause due to Global Warming or what? Antarctica is getting just as bad as well.
No one can say for sure. It is likely there is both a natural and a man made component to climate change. Since we will not make the cuts required to stabilize CO2 at anywhere near it's current level, we'll just have to see what happens, and make some common sense preparations.
In the past, the Arctic has been free of ice in the summer.
DK