Tag: ice melting

In a new study, the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling informed that it has tracked changes in snow and ice cover across the Antarctic. Namely, the continent's ice sheet has thinned by up to 122 metres in places. Lead author and CPOM Director Professor Andy Shepherd, said that ice losses from East and West Antarctica have contributed 4.6 mm to global sea level rise since 1992.

One of the Finnish priorities that Ambassador Aleksi Härkönen, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, emphasizes as a success, is meteorological cooperation. Mr. Härkönen said that they have already achieved a breakthrough when the WMO and national meteorological institutes decided to actively contribute to meteorological cooperation in the Arctic.

Arctic’s icecap is shrinking 12% faster than it was a decade ago, and nearly all of its older and thicker ice is already gone. Nick Hughes, who leads the Norwegian Ice Service addressed the possibility that in 2045 all vessels might be able to sail straight over the top of the world.

Polar Vortex, a pattern of high-altitude winds in the Arctic, weakened resulting to frigid air over North America and Europe in the second half of January 2019. Although the Arctic ice sea extent remained below average, temperatures in the far north were closer to average than in past years. Specifically, Arctic sea ice extent for January averaged 13.56 million square kilometers (5.24 million square miles). This was 860.000 square kilometres less in comparison to 1981 to 2010 long-term average sea ice extent, and 500.000 square kilometres above the record low for the month set in January 2018.

HMS Protector, Royal Navy survey ship, smashed through approximately 300 miles of Antarctic ice to help scientists begin a five year mission in order to understand how West Antarctica contributes to global sea-level rise. The vessel 'opened the path' in the Antarctic to support a team of 100 scientists who seek to understand a glacier the size of Great Britain.

For 13th year, NOAA issued its Arctic Report Card reflecting ice and ocean observations made throughout the Arctic during the 2018 calendar year. The report highlights, among others, that the year 2018 was the second warmest year on record in the Arctic since 1900 (after 2016), at +1.7° C relative to the long-term average (1981-2010).

Climate change is a major problem affecting not only Antarctic, but the whole world. Antarctic is a picture of the world since it projects the effects of climate change. Today, parts of the Antarctic are warming three times faster than other parts of our planet, with scientists recording recently its warmest day ever – a distinctly not-freezing 17.5°C.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) issued figures confirming that while sea ice extent in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas remains below average, extent remains especially low on the Atlantic side of the Arctic in the Barents and Laptev Seas. October sea ice extent in the Arctic was the third lowest in the satellite record, averaging 6.06 million square kilometers (2.34 million square miles).

Targeted engineering projects to hold off glacier melting could slow down ice-sheet collapse and limit sea-level rise, according to a new study issued in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere. However, the study highlights the importance of reducing emissions as a key to stopping climate change.

As the ice melting creates an uncertain future for the Arctic environment, a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that the growth of trans-Arctic shipping and the subsequent increase in emissions may offset some of the overall warming trend in the Arctic by the end of the century.