Arctic Ice is Melting at an Alarming Rate

KOMPAS.com – The latest satellite data has revealed that ice in Arctic melting at an alarming rate. It happens because of the excess heat caused by the emission greenhouse gases man.

Multiyear ice, or ice that has existed for several years, researchers say has experienced a layer decline of about 16 percent in just three years.

At least the multiyear ice was 50 centimeters thinner in 2012 than it was in 2019.

The layer is then replaced by less permanent seasonal sea ice that melts completely each summer.

Also read: UN Confirms Hottest Arctic Temperature Occurred Last Year

Multiyear ice is known to be thicker and therefore more resistant to melting than seasonal ice.

However, as this ice begins to thin and is replaced by seasonal ice, the overall volume of Arctic sea ice is expected to decrease rapidly.

“We really didn’t expect to see this decline, because the ice became thinner in just three short years,” said Sahra Kacimi, a scientist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

Meanwhile, satellite data shows that over the past 18 years, winter sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has lost a third of its volume or about 6000 cubic kilometers of ice volume has been lost during that time span.

Citing Science Alert, Tuesday (15/3/2022), the results of this study are the first to use satellite data for years to estimate the thickness of the ice and the depth of snow on it.

“Arctic snow depth, snow ice thickness, and volume are three very challenging measurements to obtain,” said Ron Kwok, a researcher at the University of Washington.

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