Antarctic Sea Ice Levels Lowest Ever Recorded

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Iceberg Antarctic Peninsula

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Contrary to in style perception, world warming isn’t the direct trigger of those low ice ranges.

The ice ranges had been measured at nearly 30% lower than the typical over the earlier ten years.

The Antarctic sea ice extent was the bottom since satellite tv for pc monitoring began in 1978, in accordance with a latest report from the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Japan. The satellite tv for pc knowledge used on this investigation could also be discovered on the Arctic Data archive System (ADS) web site.

Antarctic Sea Ice on February 20, 2022

Antarctic sea ice focus distribution on February 20, 2022. On that day, the Antarctic sea ice extent turned the bottom since satellite tv for pc observations started. Credit: NIPR/JAXA

Similar to lakes, the ocean within the bitterly chilly Antarctic area freezes within the winter and thaws within the spring. As one would anticipate, there are seasonal fluctuations within the quantity of sea ice, with winter seeing a rise and summer season seeing a lower. However, opposite to expectations, latest world warming has in a roundabout way resulted in a discount within the quantity of sea ice within the Antarctic area. This is because of the truth that totally different areas have seen totally different difficult adjustments on account of world warming, with some seeing a rise within the manufacturing of sea ice. Understanding how sea ice extent varies over time in every area is essential for quite a lot of causes, together with the way it impacts each the financial system (by influencing the ocean’s circulate) and methods to perceive the results of worldwide warming.

Antarctic Sea Ice Graph

Upper; Details of seasonal adjustments for 2021-2022. There was no vital lower in sea ice extent till round September 2021, however a gradual downward development was noticed from round October, and the ocean ice extent remained at concerning the third smallest on document for the interval for the reason that 2000s. Since the start of 2022, the ocean ice extent remained comparatively small, though no excessive lower was seen, and the reducing development continued after February, reaching 2,128,000 km2 on February 20, 2022, the bottom worth ever recorded. Lower; Annual minimal of the Antarctic sea ice extent from 1979 to 2022. Credit: NIPR/JAXA

NIPR and JAXA visualize temporal and spatial changes in the Antarctic and Arctic sea ice extent and publish the data on the Arctic Data archive System (ADS) website as one of the activities of Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II). These data are based on observations by JAXA’s Global Change Observation Mission – Water “SHIZUKU” (GCOM-W) (Figure). In the GCOM-W satellite observation data, the research group found the characteristic change in the sea ice extent data around the Antarctic Continent in February 2022, the summer season.

“Amazingly, the sea ice extent on February 20, 2022, was 2,128,000 km2, the smallest in over 40 years of observations,” said Project Professor Hironori Yabuki of NIPR. “This was discovered by method to compare long-term data since 1978, combining several satellite observations. It is also a minimal value (73.3%) compared to the average minimum extent of 2,902,000 km2 for each year from 2012 to 2021.”

JAXA's Global Change Observation Mission - Water

JAXA’s Global Change Observation Mission – Water “SHIZUKU” (GCOM-W). Credit: JAXA

“This time, we discovered the phenomenon of minimum sea ice extent based on observation data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) onboard the GCOM-W. However, we know that sea ice’s role in the global environment varies depending on ice thickness, surface conditions, and drifting conditions. Currently, such information can only be obtained from field observations, but JAXA is developing a method to estimate such information from satellite observation data. For this development, it is necessary to accumulate information on how the Antarctic region’s actual state of sea ice is reflected in satellite observation figures. Therefore, field observations are becoming more critical,” said Project Professor Yabuki.

JAXA is also preparing to launch a new satellite, the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW), which will carry AMSR3, the successor to AMSR2.

“This new method and satellite will allow combined analysis with more advanced sea ice coverage,” said Project Professor Yabuki.

Reference: “Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Lowest Ever Recorded,” National Institute of Polar Research.