Scientists warned that the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free during the summer for the first time as early as 2035 because of climate change. New satellite images from NASA showed that Arctic sea ice is thinning and disappearing at alarming, including those oldest chunks of ice.
The images showed that the end-of-season Arctic multiyear sea ice is about 1.6 feet (50 centimeters) thinner in 2021 than in 2019. That means ice thickness drops around 16% within just three years and is being replaced by seasonal sea ice that melts every summer.
In this handout satellite composite image provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), satellite images of polar ice sheets taken in August 2001 (L) and August 2007 show the retreating ice in the Beaufort Sea during the summer in the Arctic Ocean.
NASA Satellites Capture Thinning of Arctic Sea Ice
NASA's ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2 satellites, which are currently in low-Earth orbit, have captured images of the changing Earth, including the thinning of the Arctic sea ice. According to Science Alert, the Arctic Ocean winter sea ice has lost its volume in the past 18 years, a staggering number that may have been underestimated in the past.
The study, titled "Arctic Snow Depth, Ice Thickness, and Volume From ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2: 2018-2021," published in the Geophysical Research Letters, is the first research that estimates both ice thickness and the depth of snow on top. Polar scientist Ron Kwok from the University of Washington said that these two factors, along with sea ice volume, are difficult to measure.
The takeaway of this study is the tremendous loss of Arctic winter sea ice volume that has lessened at an alarming rate, accompanied by the widely reported loss of old Arctic sea ice and the decline of end-of-summer ice.
The data was gathered through ICESat-2's LiDAR technology launched two years ago and the radar technology in the CryoSat-2. The two satellites detected the snow and sea ice in the Arctic based on their reflections that bounced back at them.
Researchers reiterated that without this data, it would be challenging to judge the thickness of ice because the snow can weigh ice down and change how it floats. But records of the climate helped estimate the snow depth in the past, which revealed that scientists have been overestimating sea ice thickness by up to 20% or equivalent to 0.7 feet (20 centimeters).
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From Multiyear Ice to Seasonal Ice
Study lead author Sahra Kacimi, a polar scientist at California Institute of Technology and NASA's JPL, said in a statement that the team were not expecting to see this much decline of ice in the Arctic region because it is alarmingly thinner than three years ago,
Furthermore, CNet reported that the study highlights the switch from multiyear ice to seasonal ice that implies it is the latest in a series of impacts in the Arctic due to climate change in recent decades. Those in the northern hemisphere have felt the effects of global warming compared to other regions.
As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Rick Spinrad said last year, the effects of climate change in the Arctic have caused countries to be already in the process of morphing to a "dramatically different state." Kacimi added that current models predict an ice-free summer in the Arctic could be expected by mid-century when the older ice is gone.
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