Arctic Sees Near-Record Melt in 2006
Oct. 4, 2006 — -- Summers in the Arctic Circle could be ice-free in about 50 years if current melting trends continue, according to new projections by scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
What causes alarm among scientists is the rate at which the summer arctic sea ice is disappearing, at about 8.6 percent per decade.
At that rate, scientists warn, the Arctic could be completely free of ice by about 2060 -- about a decade earlier than had been previously predicted.
"If this pattern continues, we're going to lose it pretty soon," said Mark Serreze, an arctic climate research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder Colo.
In 2006, a pattern of "sharply declining" arctic sea ice continued, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and nearly broke the 2005 record.
Researchers point out that for the first six months of this year, the amount of sea ice was well below the 2005 minimum, thanks to warm winter temperatures and unusually high temperatures in July. Had August not been unusually cool and stormy, Serreze said, 2006 would have almost certainly broken the 2005 record for minimum sea ice extent.
"Clearly, the sea ice is not feeling well," Serreze said.
Since the 1960s, sea ice has also become thinner. It's lost on average 10 to 15 percent of its thickness, and as much as 40 percent is some areas, according to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.
Arctic sea ice plays an important role in balancing Earth's temperatures. Air and ocean currents carry heat energy away from the tropic regions to the Arctic, which acts as a sort of air conditioner. Without it, said scientists, the tropics would overheat.
The Arctic region is particularly vulnerable to warming. The white sea ice reflects much of the sun's heat back into space. But as melting occurs, the white ice is replaced by darker ocean water that absorbs more heat energy, which in turn causes increased warming. It's called a feedback loop.
In addition to sea ice, scientists say the effects of global warming can be seen all over the Arctic region. Areas of permafrost are thawing, the Greenland ice sheet--
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