Science | The study found that Arctic sea ice is succumbing to inflation

Sea ice from North Pole It undergoes a process called AtlantificationThe arrival of warm waters from the Atlantic Ocean slows the edge of sea ice and reduces its growth in winter.

For the study published in the Journal of Climate, scientists used satellite data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative to calculate changes in the volume of Arctic sea ice between 2002 and 2019.

The amount of sea ice floating in the ocean North Pole It varies greatly, peaking around March, after the cold of winter, and lowest around September.

Tendency to reduce snow

However, these seasonal fluctuations with the warming climate and the temperature of the surrounding sea water also contribute to the weakening of the ice.

Although some thicker, older ice remains at all times, the decreasing trend of ice is like Climate change He explained to the European Space Agency “ESA” that its fence around this fragile polar region.

Previous research suggested that sea ice might recover partially in winter, because thin ice grows faster than thicker ice, but the new findings suggest that ocean heat is overcoming the stabilizing effect, reducing the volume of sea ice that can grow in winter.

“We have now found that in the Barents Sea and Kara regions, this stabilization effect is outweighed by ocean heat and warmer temperatures, which reduces the growth of winter ice,” according to Robert Reiker, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research at AWI (Germany).

Researchers believe the stabilization mechanism in other regions of North Pole It could also be surpassed in the future.

This new process is called Atlantification, Which means that the heat Atlantic Ocean Moving it to higher latitudes causes the edge of the sea ice to recede.

“This also means that if there is a hot summer or strong winds, the sea ice is less resistant,” said Reeker.

Ice-thickness data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat mission “significantly” contributed to the entrenchment results, combined with data from the SMOS satellite, it is essential for improving forecasts of thinner and more fragile sea ice.

Information from both satellites is used to improve forecasts of sea ice, which is essential for navigation, fishing or indigenous communities.

(With information from EFE)

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