Study Confirms Drastic Thinning of Sea Ice
An icebreaker leaves behind a wake of broken sea ice.
A 6-year study of Arctic sea ice confirms that there has been a massive shrinking and drastic thinning of the ice.
Highly accurate data, which was gathered on board a German icebreaker over several seasons has shown that sea ice in the Arctic has thinned up to 53% from 2001-2007, according to a University of Alberta study led by earth and atmospheric sciences Professor Christian Hass.
Sea ice that was once 2.5 meters thick in 1991 is now 0.9 meters thick.
Haas notes that the thinning is not only due to melt, but also to the replacement of older, thicker ice by relatively thin first-year ice. The regime change is due to faster ice motion, supported by the thinner ice.
According to Haas, the observed thinning is a signal of climate change, but he notes it is still unclear what the underlying mechanisms are.
"The faster ice motion is due to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. The independent thinning is due to increased oceanic and atmospheric heat fluxes, and it is likely those atmospheric heat fluxes, like higher air temperature and increased infrared radiation, are the major causes."
The previous three paragraphs were taken directly from the University of Alberta news story.
By the way, earlier this spring, new data obtained by Hass indicated that there would not be a new record minimum ice coverage this year.
I thank Steve Bloom for directing me to this article.
