Stunning record reduction of sea ice in the arctic, US scientists

US scientists (NASA – NSIDC – Universities of Washington and Colorado) observed via satellite records that the area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year – that arctic temperatures have considerably increased in the recent years and to conclude that Arctic sea ice is likely on an accelerating long-term decline.

3 extracts of their Press release dated 28/09/05 attracted our attention :

 

– …“Considering the record low amounts of sea ice this year leading up to the month of September, 2005 will almost certainly surpass 2002 as the lowest amount of ice cover in more than a century,” said Julienne Stroeve of NSIDC. If current rates of decline in sea ice continue, the summertime Arctic could be completely ice-free well before the end of this century”…

View their detailed map >>

 

-…”In addition, arctic temperatures have increased in recent decades. Compared to the past 50 years, average surface air temperatures from January through August, 2005, were 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than average across most of the Arctic Ocean”…

View their detailed map >>  

 

-…”This summer, the legendary Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic from Europe to Asia was completely open except for a 60-mile swath of scattered ice floes. In earlier centuries, whole expeditions were lost as their crews tried to beat through thick ice and bitter cold. The Northeast Passage, north of the Siberian coast, was completely ice-free from August 15 through September 28″…

View their detailed map >>

General info on their Press release articles =>

– by NASA

– by NSIDC

– by University of Colorado

We already indicated  that the forecasts are alarming and that we can’t afford to be insensitive to the threats that our environment faces and need to (re) act at each level of the society. More info >>