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According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), sea ice accumulating around Antarctica has hit a record low this winter, raising fears among scientists that the effects of climate change are intensifying at the South Pole .
Researchers warn that this change could have serious consequences for animals such as penguins that breed and raise their young on sea ice, and that it could accelerate global warming by increasing the amount of sunlight that can be reflected back into space by the ice , is reduced.
Antarctic sea ice extent peaked on September 10 this year when it covered 16.96 million km2, the lowest winter maximum since satellite records began in 1979, NSIDC said. This means about 1 million km2 less ice compared to the previous record negative winter in 1986.
“It’s not just a record year, it’s an extreme record year,” said Walt Meier, chief scientist at NSIDC.
The NSIDC said in a statement the figures were preliminary and a full analysis would be released next month.
Antarctic sea ice typically peaks around September, near the end of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and melts to its lowest point in February or March, as summer ends.
The extent of Antarctic sea ice in summer also reached a record low in February, exceeding the previous mark from 2022.
Data from recent years reaching record lows has scientists worried that climate change may finally be manifesting itself in Antarctic sea ice.
While the Arctic has been hit hard by the climate crisis over the last decade, with sea ice rapidly declining as the planet’s northern region warmed four times faster than the global average, Antarctica fared better.
Although climate change is contributing to the melting of glaciers in Antarctica, the impact of warmer temperatures on sea ice near the South Pole is still considered uncertain. Sea ice extent in the region increased from 2007 to 2016.
Meier cautions that it is still too early to confirm the scenario, but a scientific article published earlier this month in the journal Communications Earth and Environment points to climate change as a possible factor in this situation.
The study found that rising ocean temperatures, driven primarily by humancaused greenhouse gas emissions, are contributing to the lowest sea ice levels since 2016.
“The key message here is that we really need to protect these frozen parts of the world, which are really important for a number of reasons,” said Ariaan Purich, a sea ice researcher at Monash University in Australia and coauthor of the study in order to reduce our carbon emissions. greenhouse gases”.