Arctic Sea Ice Lowest in 800 Years
A plethora of corroborative data shows that this year’s sea ice levels in the Arctic are the lowest seen in 800 years.
The new research, published in the journal Climate Dynamics, doesn’t specify a cause or reason for the retreat, but it does note that if sea ice melt continues at this level, it’s likely that the North Pole will be completely ice-free during the summer months within a few decades.
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The results were reached after putting together data from a wide variety of sources. Detailed information was collected about the climate from ice cores from an ice cap on Svalbard– an island archipelago in the Arctic Ocean– and from the annual growth rings of trees in Finland. The scientists also combed through harbor records and logbooks of ships that traveled the area to record human observation of sea ice levels.
“We see that the sea ice is shrinking to a level which has not been seen in more than 800 years,” said Aslak Grinsted, one of the study’s researchers. Furthermore, even though there was a warming period 800 years ago and ice levels were comparatively low then, current ice level retreat is unprecedented. By comparison, 20th century ice cover is still the thinnest on record. The study found that ice was thickest during the “Little Ice Age” of the 18th century.
While detailed comparisons have been difficult to make, it’s no surprise that sea ice levels have been exceedingly low over the last several decades– and getting worse. For instance, just last year the fabled Northwest Passage opened up for the first time in living memory. That could be good news for shipping and trading worldwide, but bad news for an entire Arctic ecosystem, including for animals like the polar bear, which rely on thick year-long ice cover.
Current projections suggest that the thinning ice could decimate polar bear populations by two thirds within the next 20 years, if not plummet the population to near extinction in the wild.
Source: LiveScience
Image Credit: mape_s on Flickr under a Creative Commons License
For a visual description of recent changes in arctic ice extent, see this plot of satellite data online.
Note carefully that the red line for 2009 stops abruptly in the middle of the year, because it is only July.
This image shows a geographic visualization (a map) of how much the May sea ice extent is smaller than the median since 1979.
Answers to the people up above:
The Earth goes through cycles of warming and cooling. However, because the Earth has been warm in the past does not discount the idea that human-induced factors such as the massive release of greenhouse gasses are causing our current warming trend.
That is the point you’re failing to contend.
Regarding you people who argue that polar bears are going to be just fine based upon the fact that they swim: you’re completely ignorant. Polar bears require an ice sheet in order to hunt. While they are very good swimmers, their prey swims much better. As ice sheets disappear, the bears are losing their hunting grounds, and they are starving to death.
Try swimming long ocean distances when you’re starving.
It is important to be aware that physics does not allow CO2 to be that dominant as many people think, this due to 2 things, CO2 can only absorb a small part of the suns energy and its effect rapidly declines with the amount, so going from 300 to 400 ppm just does not make much of a difference, this has been known at least since 1995.
Hey boys
Did you all get your payments from Exxon this month or maybe some think tank somewhere that has never conducted a single scientific study. I hear they pay well boys! Wow what a job. Sitting at your computer cut and pasting the same rubbish every day. Still trotting out the same tripe and bial that a denialist has left. Ridicule any thing that actually tells people the truth. Deny, just cast doubt! We don’t care what you write as long as it fills up the pages so it looks as if the whole blogging world is onto the great climate swindle! I have this image of very unhappy angry people venting their tiny minds at anything that implies, God forbid, The LEFT!!! Or worse.. The Truth!
Sea ice levels in the Arctic are the lowest seen in 800 years?
Eight. Hundred. Years.
By who’s recollection?
Pfffft.
P.S. Satellite data says you’re fibbing.
Beto Ochoa:
Actually all the satellite data corroborates the information cited in this report.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5356SA20090406
I’m not sure why you would choose to live in denial about this, the evidence is overwhelming.
Not sure if any of you will see this or if you’ll bother to read it, much less absorb it, but what the heck:
I work in a museum and my job is to interpret science for the public. In that job, I talk to scientists, read scientific papers, and cross-check everything.
Scientists are conservative people when it comes to their work. They don’t like to make waves or make a lot of noise. Yess, every not and then there’s a high-profile fossil or something that gets hyped up, but that’s rare. They see something going on right now that they’re never seen before. They’re alarmed, they’re speaking out. They’re not all very good at or even really want to do it. But they are.
Morgan — It has been known for about a century that on average CO2 contribtes about 1/4 of the greenhouse effect. No one’s saying it’s the single largest factor. The crucial thing to note is that more than 99% of the atmosphere is non-greenhouse gases, so even slightly increasing the amount of a gas which causes 25% of the effect is significant.
Beto Ochoa — Pfffft is good to rally the troops but there’s no refutation in it. If satellite data is so important, what about the AMSR-E data? And do you really think that we simply have no evidence about the state of the icecap from 800 or 8,000 or 80,000 years ago? We’ve found it. That’s what scientists do, I’ve met many of them, they’re good at it.
UTOA — “Co2 is not a deadly gas, plants breath it and make O2 that we need. THE SUN HEATS THE EARTH. 9th grade earth science people.” O2 isn’t deadly until there gets to be too much of it and then fires burn out of control. H2O isn’t deadly until you drink ten liters of it in an hour. Too much CO2 is a problem. Look at the first paragraph.
phosphene — “CO2 makes plants grow.” But not all equally. Unfortunately for us, weeds and invasives tend to do slightly better than crop plants. And even if the plants want to grow, where there’s no good soil (like in the presumably “greening” North) that won’t help them. Again… too much of it is dangerous. See the first paragraph.
Donny Griffin — “Leftist liberal government hogs want large increase in taxes-people will believe anything they are told” But *you* don’t believe it when climatologists and biologists and oceanographers and other researchers tell you that they’re scared s******s of what’s happening. And why do they want a large increase in taxes? To pay for what? Liberals don’t increase taxes just to increase taxes, in the way modern Republicans cut spending just because they believe the cutting is an end in and of itself. But we won’t go there.
MKT,
Thanks for the very thoughtful response. People are reading it, believe me
Wow, I just assumed most people, regardless of political persuasion, recognize that climate change is real. I’m shocked that anyone would argue there’s anything normal about what is going on worldwide.
In the scientific community, the “debate” about the cause or existence of climate change is over, folks. The debate now is focusing on what exactly the impact will be on our way of life over the next couple decades.