The Earth is going thin on top. A new study has revealed that the Arctic Ocean's permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has thinned by more than 40% since 2004.
Scientists said the rapid loss was "remarkable" and could force experts to reassess how quickly the Arctic ice in the summer may disappear completely. They blame the loss on global warming, which has driven temperatures in the Arctic to record highs and summer ice extent to recent lows.
The study, based on satellite measurements, is among the first to estimate the thickness of the Arctic ice, rather than just its surface area.
Ron Kwok, senior research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "Even in years when the overall extent of sea ice remains stable or grows slightly, the thickness and volume of the ice cover is continuing to decline, making the ice more vulnerable to continued shrinkage."
The study looked at measurements taken of the Arctic region by the Icesat satellite, launched in 2003.
Overall, the experts found that the ice, typically up to about 3m thick, thinned by 67cm over the last four winters.
Converting to ice volume, the scientists worked out the amount of so-called multiyear ice, which persists through Arctic summers, had decreased in the winter by up to 6,300 cubic kilometres since 2005 – a decline of more than 40%. The research is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.
The Arctic ice cap fluctuates with the seasons, growing in the freezing winter and shrinking over the summer. An important finding of the study is that the majority of Arctic ice no longer survives the summer. In 2003, this multiyear ice made up 62% of the region's total ice volume. By 2008, this was down to 32%. The remaining 68% was "first-year" seasonal ice, which was open water during the summer, so is thinner and more likely to melt away.
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- jefftego
- added this
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WOW! scary. I wonder how much proof people need to change their ways?
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- ALLNATURALVEGANS
- 4 months ago
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The G8 summit attendees don't appear to grasp the grave magnitude of what is already happening. My fear is that BEFORE 2050 we will already be living in a pressure cooker we used to call Earth.
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thats your planet
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- dreamsenvoy
- 4 months ago
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Its too late, buy a boat and sunscreen.
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this is quicker then expected, but now we will see what the next reaction is. is the ice going away or will the flood of fresh water from the artic stop the gulf stream, thereby bring a new ice age in europe.
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Move inland, unless you live on an island, then just move. Sink or swim. Yes I know, I am a dick.
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- larrysnotes
- 4 months ago
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Lets not go crazy here,this happens all the time, in the past and in the future we can't do a thing about this
mother nature will take care of this if she pleases.
There are pockets of methane gas so large it would cause years and years of global warming in days.
So do the best we can and move on
We are guests here.
