Sea ice Arctic had its lowest winter accumulation since records began to carry records 47 years ago, a symptom of the Climate change That will have repercussions worldwide, scientists said on Thursday.
The Arctic reaches its maximum sea ice in March of each year and then begins a six -month thaw season. The National Snow and Ice Center reported that the maximum measurement taken on Saturday was 5.53 million square miles, approximately 30,000 square miles smaller than the lowest previous point recorded in 2017.
That is a difference in the size of the California state.
“The increasingly high temperatures are what is causing the ice to decrease”said Walt Maier, ice data scientist. “They know, marine ice in particular is very sensitive … 31 degrees is to skate on ice and 33 degrees is to swim.”
Jennifer Francis, scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, said this is another alarm signal in the form of a broken record.
“The disappearance of sea ice is particularly worrying news because it is truly an early warning system that warns us about a variety of difficult changes to see”Francis said in an email.
The scientists said that the conditions of warming in the Arctic – the region is heating four times faster than the rest of the world – affect the climate in other places. Pressure and temperature differences between the north and the south are reduced. That weakens the stream current, which moves the climatic systems, making it move further to the south with cold shoots and storms that often remain stagnant and cause a greater amount of rain or snow, according to the snow and ice center and Francis.
“The warm winter atmosphere on the Arctic Circle impacts large -scale climatic patterns that influence those outside the Arctic,” said Julienne Stroeve, a scientist of ice at the University of Manitoba.
On smaller sea ice, Stroeve also pointed out that there is not only less. The remaining ice is thin enough so that more of him is quickly melt this summer, Stroeve added. He warned that a lower record area in winter does not guarantee a small record area in summer.
The melting of the Arctic sea ice – which occurs mainly during the summer – is making the population of polar bears smaller, weaker and be hungry because they depend on sea ice to hunt, scientists said. And winter sea ice is especially important for fishing and seal, Meier said.
The year in which Arctic Marine ice reached its largest size since records began to be carried out in 1979, with 6.42 million square miles. That means that since the satellites began to track it, the winter peak of the arctic sea ice has been reduced approximately to the size of Pakistan.
When winter sea ice is in good condition, more than half of the way to Ecuador can be extended, reaching Japan, China and the Gulf of San Lorenzo in Canada, said Meier.
Meier commented that the extension of sea ice is decreasing in the four stations, but the most important season for the general health of the Arctic ice is summer. That is due to the fact that the waters without heat are heated faster, they retain more energy and make autumn and winter warmer and more weak.
The five lowest amounts for the winter peak of the Arctic sea ice have been registered since 2015.
Earlier this month, Antarctica was close to breaking a record for the lowest sea ice level – this is the time of the year in which the region reaches its minimum – and ended with the second lowest level recorded.
In general, there is more sea ice in Antarctica and the two poles are synchronized in a slightly different way, but in February, global sea ice – the combination of the Arctic and Antarctica – reached a low record, said Meier.