Scientists have issued a warning that the Arctic Ocean may be completely ice-free in summer for the first time in 2035 due to climate change. New research shows that Arctic sea ice, including some of the oldest pieces, is thinning and disappearing at an astonishing rate.
NASA-sponsored research using observations from the IceSat-2 and CryoSat-2 satellites shows that the Arctic Ocean has lost about a third of its winter sea ice volume over the past two decades. And much of this loss is due to the fact that persistent, perennial ice that lasts for several seasons is replaced by thinner seasonal ice that melts completely each summer.
The study, published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that since IceSat-2 became operational in 2019, perennial ice has lost about half a meter in thickness.
“We didn’t really expect to see this drop, it’s shocking how thin the ice is in just three short years,” said Sahara Kacimi, a polar scientist at CalTech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the study.
University College London polar ice researcher Robbie Mallett, who was not part of the study, commented, “This ice we’re losing at a pretty alarming rate is really old.”
Overall, the shift from multi-year ice heritage to more seasonal ice is the latest in a series of impacts that have been felt by climate change in the Arctic in recent years…
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