Arctic sea ice 'shrinking abruptly'
Nasa warns Arctic sea ice is shrinking
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Thursday, 14, Sep 2006 02:45
"Dramatic" changes in Arctic sea ice have been discovered by Nasa scientists.
Data from Nasa's QuikSat satellite shows that Arctic perennial sea ice, which usually survives the summer melt season and remains all year round, shrunk by 14 per cent between 2004 and 2005.
As ice moved from the east Arctic to the west, the east had a 50 per cent loss of ice during that time.
The overall decrease in winter Arctic sea ice totals 280,000 square miles - roughly the size of Texas. Although perennial ice can be more than ten feet thick, the ice it was replaced with was between one and seven feet thick and it was more vulnerable to summer melt.
Researchers believe that if the sea ice continues to decline, which is thought to be possible for this year, the surrounding ocean will become warmer. In turn this will encourage further summer ice melts and impending autumn freeze-ups.
"Recent changes in Arctic sea ice are rapid and dramatic," said Dr Son Nghiem of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
"If the seasonal ice in the east Arctic Ocean were to be removed by summer melt, a vast ice-free area would open up. Such an ice-free area would have profound impacts on the environment, as well as on marine transportation and commerce."
Dr Nghiem added that it is "vital" for the region to continue to be closely monitored while scientists work to discover what is causing the increase in ice melt.
So far data from the National Centres for Environmental Prediction in Colorado has found that winds appear to be pushing perennial ice from the east to the west Arctic Ocean.