Big weather changes from shrinking sea ice?
Composite satellite images animated to show minimum concentrations of Arctic sea ice growng smaller from 1979 to 2005.
DB: This is Earth and Sky. In 2005, scientists measuring Arctic sea ice found the least ice coverage in the Arctic seen since records have been kept, starting about a century ago.
JB: We spoke to Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. Scambos and his colleagues used satellite data to find that Arctic sea ice shrank by almost 20%, in contrast to the average area of Arctic sea ice coverage over the past 27 years.
Ted Scambos: So we think that this is a fairly significant change, and having a 20% loss in sea ice is probably just the beginning of a long-term trend to getting to the point where, eventually in summer we will have no sea ice up in the Arctic ocean.
DB: We asked Scambos what to expect to happen to Arctic sea ice as this century progresses. He said that as the north pole loses its ice cover, it’ll absorb rather than reflect sunlight.
Ted Scambos: I think this actually a more important, a more likely cause for concern than sea level rise, because we’re able to adapt to sea level rise at the rates that it’s likely to occur, a meter in a century. It’s not that hard to get ready for. But with change in the Arctic ice, we’re unsure exactly what the weather systems will be in response to this big change in the Earth’s energy balance.
_JB: Our thanks today to NASA explore, discover, understand. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
No one knows what to expect from Earth’s weather patterns as this century progresses. Scambos said that his climate models predict increased drought in some areas, longer falls and shorter winters.
Sea Ice Decline Intensifies, from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (Sept. 28 2005)
Arctic Sea Ice Continues Decline As Arctic Temperatures Rise, from the University of Colorado at Boulder News Center (Sept. 28, 2005)
Troubling Signs of Climate Change Seen in Arctic, from ABC News (Sept. 28, 2005)
Our thanks to:
Ted Scambos
University of Colorado
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Boulder, CO
Additional Teacher Resources
NOAA: How Does Arctic Sea Ice Form and Decay?
Sea ice occupies about 7% of the area of the world ocean, and is of enormous importance climatically because it reflects most of the solar radiation that falls on it, affecting the average temperature of the earth. This site explores the “life cycle” of Arctic sea ice.
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC): Sea Ice Decline Intensifies
For the fourth consecutive year, NSIDC and NASA scientists using satellite data have tracked a stunning reduction in arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer. This article explores these agency’s discoveries.
