For the first time in 100,000 years, the frigid landscape familiar for its snow-capped mountains and polar bears may face tremendous ice melt this year or next, as predicted by a professional from the University of Cambridge.
This affirmation is based on provisional satellite data of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre that allegedly shows there was just over 11.1 million square kilometers of sea ice in the region on June 1 this year, a notable drop of approximately 12.7 million square kilometers from the average for the last 30 years.
As the summer ends in mid-September, the ice reaches its lowest level, on an average it has fallen to 6.3 square kilometers. ‘Ice-free’ is interpreted as when the Arctic Ocean holds less than one million square kilometers of sea ice, letting the thick ice around the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.The last mid-September reading in 2012 measured 3.4 million square kilometers.
According to an expert, the polar bears use this sea ice as a hunting ground for seals. The decrease in recent years has affected the polar bears in weight loss as they have 30 less days on which they can hunt for ice. Decline in sea ice also leads in the stimulation of methane gas emissions as the gas once frozen in the sea bed is discharged, scientists have forecasted that this could lead to an increase in global temperatures of 0.6 degrees celcius in a 2013 study.
Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University in the UK, told ’The Independent’ online; “My prediction remains that the Arctic ice may well disappear, that is, have an area of less than one million square kilometers for September this year.”
“Even if the ice doesn’t completely disappear, it is likely that this will be a record low year. I’m convinced it will be less than 3.4 million square kilometers,” he said.
Article was published in Independent
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