2020: Arktis näst minsta isarea efter 2012

This year’s Arctic sea ice cover shrank to the second lowest extent since modern record-keeping began in the late 1970s.

Källa: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3023/2020-arctic-sea-ice-minimum-at-second-lowest-on-record

Isutbredningen innefattar områden med minst 15% is. Ytterkanten av isytan på bilden nedan är alltså ända upp till 85% vatten! Om ytan stadigt krymper år efter år finns goda skäl att även isens massa minskar.

Arctic sea ice reached its annual summer minimum extent on Sept. 15, the second lowest minimum on record. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

“It was just really warm in the Arctic this year, and the melt seasons have been starting earlier and earlier,” said Nathan Kurtz, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The earlier the melt season starts, the more ice you generally lose.”

Thin ice also melts quicker than thicker floes. Dramatic drops in sea ice extent in 2007 and 2012, along with generally declining summer extent, has led to fewer regions of thick, multi-year ice that has built up over multiple winters. In addition, a recent study showed that warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean, which is typically deep below the colder Arctic waters, is creeping up closer to the bottom of the sea ice and warming it from below.

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[1] Medianen är ett värde där halva antalet observationer ligger över och andra halvan under.

Related link: https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2020/09/arctic-sea-ice-decline-stalls-out-at-second-lowest-minimum/