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This article was first published 11 years ago

Arctic ice 'likely to be gone within next 20 to 25 years'

Last updated on: September 28, 2012 11:45 IST

Image: NASA handout image shows how satellite data reveals how the new record low Arctic sea ice extent, from September 16, 2012, compares to the average minimum extent over the past 30 years (in yellow).
Photographs: Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio/Reuters/NASA

Arctic summer ice melt reached a record low last week, with ice levels more dramatically diminished than at any time since satellite monitoring began 33 years ago.

John Yackel, a sea ice geophysicist and climatologist, says this year's extreme melt in the Arctic could have serious ramifications for the planet.

The previous record low for Arctic sea ice extent, set on September 18, 2007, with a 4.17-million sq-km ice cap, was already shattered by the end of August this year when it had melted to below 4-million sq km.

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Arctic ice 'likely to be gone within next 20 to 25 years'

Image: The crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy, in the midst of their ICESCAPE mission, retrieves supplies for some mid-mission fixes dropped by parachute from a C-130 in the Arctic Ocean
Photographs: Kathryn Hansen/Reuters/NASA

"This is the smallest minimum ice extent we have ever had, and not just in the satellite record, but probably in the last million years," said Yackel, head of the department of geography.

Yackel has been closely monitoring the annual summer ice melt in the Arctic for the past 15 years -- documenting the ice cover as it's steadily shrunk in the wake of Arctic and global warming.

From the patterns he has observed, this year's extreme melt could be the beginning of a frightening trend.

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Tags: Yackel , Arctic

Arctic ice 'likely to be gone within next 20 to 25 years'

Image: Scientists Jens Ehn (L) and Christie Wood scoop water from melt ponds on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean
Photographs: Kathryn Hansen/Reuters/NASA

Yackel and the university-based Cryosphere Climate Research Group use satellite technology to research the physical properties of Arctic ice. As recently as the 1980s, most of the ice in the Arctic Ocean was "multi-year ice," -- thick ice that would remain throughout the summer.

At that time, the split between multi-year ice and seasonal ice -- ice that would melt away in the summer -- was about 80 per cent multi-year and 20 per cent seasonal.

"In the last 20 years we've almost gotten to the point where we've reversed that ratio," Yackel said, predicting the ice extent that covers the Arctic Ocean "is likely to be gone in the summers within the next 20 to 25 years, if not sooner."

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Arctic ice 'likely to be gone within next 20 to 25 years'

Image: Snow-covered mountains look over the Isfjord in Svalbard.
Photographs: Balazs Koranyi/Reuters

The depleting ice cover would have serious ramifications for the planet. Arctic ice acts as a reflector of sunlight, helping regulate the Earth's temperature, cooling the climate.

"When there's no longer that sea ice below the air mass and it's just open ocean, that's when more moisture off the ocean's surface gets into the atmosphere and the water vapor in the atmosphere makes for more violent storms," said Yackel.

"We can also expect to see an increase in storm frequency and storm intensity for most of the world's populated places as the Arctic and Earth continues to warm," he added.

 

Tags: Earth , Yackel , Arctic

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