The amount of sea ice left over from summer this year is the second smallest amount ever, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). That point was reached a week ago.
–
In total, 3.74 million square kilometers of ice floated in the polar seas at the time, a difference of about 350,000 square kilometers from 2012, when the lowest amount of sea ice ever recorded.
“This tells us that the ocean around the North Pole is on the way to becoming ice-free in seasons, and this year is another nail in the coffin,” NSIDC director Mark Serreze told CNN news channel Monday. According to him there are no signs of recovery. Melting sea ice is a major threat to ocean ecosystems. Many life forms, from plankton to seals and whales, depend on sea ice.
According to Serreze, melting sea ice is yet another result of human-induced global warming. He also refers to the heat wave in Siberia earlier this year and the wildfires in the western United States.
‘It seems that 2020 will go down in history as the year in which it was no longer possible to deny climate change. Every individual event can be attributed to the weather, but along with the heat waves, the fires, the hurricanes and the tropical storms, nature tells us something, ”he said.
– .
