Satellite observations suggest that Antarctic sea ice hit its all-time low last week.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder has reported that Antarctic sea ice has reached its lowest level in 45 years of records.
The report said that on February 21, scientists recorded that the area of Antarctica’s sea ice had fallen to 1.79 million square kilometers. It should be noted that the previous “anti-record” was set last year in 2022, but the current figures have decreased by another 136,000 square kilometers.
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The researchers note that the latter figure, however, is still preliminary and may change towards the end of the melting season – the final figure will be announced in early March, however, one way or another, the minimum level of Antarctic sea ice has already been reached.
Melting sea ice is known to expose the thicker ice shelves that support Antarctica’s underground ice sheet to waves and higher temperatures. At the same time, the researchers note that the melting of sea ice is unlikely to have a significant impact on sea levels, because the ice, in fact, is already under water.
Antarctic sea ice on February 21, 2023, when it hit a record low in 45 years of satellite records.
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Фото: NSIDC/NASA Earth Observatory
At the same time, scientists note that Antarctica’s massive ice shelves are surrounded by sea ice, which is an extension of freshwater glaciers, which in turn threaten catastrophic sea level rise within centuries if they continue to melt as global temperatures rise.
According to Ted Scambos, senior fellow at the Collaborative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Antarctica’s response to climate change is different from that of the Arctic. A downward trend in sea ice levels could be a signal that global warming has begun to affect the floating ice around Antarctica. However, researchers will need at least a few more years of observations to be sure of this.
The researchers note that the Antarctic cycle fluctuates widely between summer melt and freezing winters, and therefore, over the past few decades, the continent has not experienced rapid melt, similar to those that affect the ice sheets of Greenland and the Arctic.
At the same time, the researchers note that a high rate of melting has been observed since 2016, and it raises concerns that a similar trend may be consolidated in the future.
It is important to understand that the melting of sea ice is a very serious problem, because it contributes to global warming in one way or another. This is because the white sea ice reflects up to 90% of the sun’s energy back into space, while when it is obscured by the dark, unfreezing sea, the water absorbs the same percentage of the sun’s heat, posing a threat.
The researchers note that globally, 2022 is already the 5th or 6th warmest year on record, despite the cooling effect of natural La Niña weather.
Earlier Focus wrote that the collapse of the ice sheet at both poles will begin earlier than expected.
