Climate change fears as Arctic ice melting faster than ever

NEW satellite observations show that sea ice in the Arctic is melting faster while air temperatures in the region are rising sharply, scientists say.

Since 2002, satellite data has revealed unusually early springtime melting in areas north of Siberia and Alaska.

Now this melting trend has spread throughout the Arctic, according to a national collaboration of scientists.

Observations show melting in 2005 began a record 17 days earlier than usual.

They showed 2.06 million square miles of sea ice as late as September 19.

That’s the lowest measurement of Arctic sea ice cover ever recorded, the researchers said. It’s also 20% less than the average of end-of-summer ice pack cover measurements recorded since 1978.

At the same time, average air temperatures across most of the region from January to August were as much as 5.4 degrees F warmer than average temperature over the last 50 years, said the team of researchers from two universities and NASA.

Ted Scambos, of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said: “The melting and retreat trends are accelerating. The results have not yet been published in a scientific journal.

“The one common thread,” Mr Scambos said, “is that Arctic temperatures over the ice, ocean and surrounding land have increased in recent decades.”

The scientists stopped short of directly blaming the melting trend on global warming but have few other explanations at this point.

During the 1990s, a cyclical atmospheric circulation pattern called the Arctic Oscillation was believed to have been pushing sea ice out of the region and into adjacent waters.

But the oscillation has weakened in recent years, and yet the melting continued and even accelerated.

Mark Sereze, another researcher at the ice and snow centre, said: “Something has fundamentally changed here, and the best answer is warming.”

Sea ice records in the Arctic are sketchy before 1978. Since satellite observations began in earnest, researchers said Arctic ice has been retreating at a rate of more than 8% per decade.

And, they suspect, the melting may only contribute to even higher arctic temperatures in the future.

That’s because the bright white ice tends to reflect more of the sun’s radiation. With more of the dark ocean exposed, the seawater tends to absorb more heat and reduce the amount of solar energy reflected back into space.

The researchers used satellite data from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Defence Department, as well as data from Canadian satellites and weather observatories.

The Colorado institute led the study that also involved two NASA laboratories, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington.