The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has announced on Tuesday, Sept. 15 that the sea ice levels in the arctic has went down more dramatically as it reached its fourth lowest level. This discovery is said to have let the experts' hopes for recovery plummet down the drain.
The report devised by the federal agencies demonstrated that the minimum extent of sea ice per annum is about 1.70 million square miles. However, in 2015, this rate has declined to approximately 699,000 square miles, which is even lower than the average rate noted from 1981-2010.
According to the experts, the annual minimum extent of arctic sea ice transpires in September of each year. For 2015, the rate of decline exhibited was 13.3 percent every 10 years. This sea ice measurement via satellites, which started in 1979, peaked at 2.91 million square miles in 1980 and reached its lowest point in 2012 with 1.3 million square miles. In 2013, the number rose again to 1.95 million square miles and remained generally steady in 2014.
The sea ice is declining as time passes by, which is something expected considering that the arctic is warming, said Julienne Stroeve, a scientist from the data center research team. If the average sea ice minimum during the summer over a period of five years will be looked at, the rate would have to be 2.76 million square miles from 1979-1983. However, in the last five years, the average minimum has dropped to 1.72 million square miles, which can be translated to a 38 percent decline and a loss of more than one million square miles worth of sea ice.
The sea ice that envelops the arctic is a critically important natural tool that aids in the regulation of the Earth's temperature by emulating solar energy back to space. The ice sheet, made up of frozen seawater and wavers above the ocean, expands and shrinks depending on the season.
According to computer softwares that simulate the condition of the arctic, the entire sea ice covering the arctic will disappear during the summer months if human-driven actions that cause the world to warm continuously ensue, said Stroeve.
