Sea ice set to disappear from the Arctic during the summer months!
Welcome to this week’s post where we bring to you the latest news regarding a particularly concerning area of climate science.
A collaborative study by the international team of researchers from Aarhus University, Stockholm University and the United States Geological Survey concluded that Arctic Sea Ice could soon become a thing of the past for the summer months. This would have major consequences resulting in negative impacts to both climate and ecosystems.
Although it is uncertain when this event is likely to happen – predictions range from this happening in the next 20-40 years. The research analysed molecules from local algae amongst other organisms from previously inaccessible regions of northern Greenland and demonstrated that the scenario is imminent with only small further rises in temperature.
What happens when the sea ice melts? Where white ice normally reflects the sun rays, the contrasting dark sea will absorb more than ten times as much solar energy, thus leading to an increase in global warming.
The algae that were sampled for this project only grows where sea ice exists. So melting sea ice affects not only climate but the wider ecosystem due to reduced algae and therefore less food for fish, thus impacting on fish numbers. It is the profound impact on the inter-connectedness of the various ecosystems through increased global warming that is the real concern – the “tipping points”.
The good news if that this is fixable if we reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions in line with a 1.5C scenario. Setting and actioning global, ambitious political emission reduction goals are key to reversing melting sea ice.
Christoff Pearce, Assistant professor at the department of Geoscience at Aarhus University has rightly said “The study is a wake-up call, because we know that it will happen. This news is not making the situation more depressing, just more urgent. We have to act now so we can change it.”
#Climatechange #ActNow #Carbonbit #GlobalWarming #ArcticIce