Now, new research has found that Arctic Ocean sea ice is shrinking even faster than previously thought — and that the Arctic may start to see its first “ice-free” days within the current decade. The study defines “ice-free” as when the Arctic Ocean has less than 1 million square kilometers, or 386,000 square miles, of ice. Advertisement“The more emissions the world puts into the atmosphere, the more months we could see an ice-free Arctic,” Jahn said. Yet the decline of Arctic sea ice has been well documented since at least 1979, when continuous satellite observations began. The implications of an ice-free Arctic Ocean — which spans an area roughly equivalent to the size of the lower 48 United States — are worrisome.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 05, 2024 22:35 UTC