Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest level in 44 years in July. A disturbing new record.
Antarctic sea ice last month reached its smallest area since July in 44 years of satellite recordings, the European climate service Copernicus warned, confirming an alarming year. Since 1979, thanks to satellites, scientists have had very accurate measurements of the extent of sea ice at the North and South Poles.
Sea ice is the ice that floats on the ocean; so its melting does not raise sea levels, but indirectly contributes to global warming as the open ocean absorbs more heat.
A year of world climate records
The normal cycle of sea ice in the Arctic, like Antarctica, is that it melts in summer and forms again in winter. In the long term, melting is rapid in Greenland and the Arctic, but conversely, the trend in Antarctica has been slightly increasing, despite significant annual and regional variations, without a precise understanding of the phenomenon. The Antarctic sea ice had only newly formed in July, the southern hemisphere winter, on an average of 15.3 million square kilometers, i.e. 1.1 million square kilometers less (-7%) than the average of this month between 1991 and 2020, Copernicus (C3S ) scientists found.
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By the end of the southern summer, in February, sea ice had shrunk to its lowest h […] Continue reading
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