Opening of Two Arctic Sea Routes Due to Ice Loss
The opening of two major Arctic Ocean sea routes can only mean one thing: the Arctic is experiencing massive ice loss.
Satellites in 2008 saw the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and the Northern Sea Route above Russia were open simultaneously for the first time since satellite measurements started, and researchers say it has happened again, the European Space Agency reported in a release from its Paris headquarters Monday.
The ESA monitors arctic ice with its Envisat, CryoSat and SMOS satellites.
Satellites have recorded reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer during the last 30 years, from around 3 million square miles in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of less than 1.6 million square miles in 2007.
The early opening of both sea passages this year suggests a possible record low in ice cover.
"Whether we reach an absolute minimum or not, this year again confirms that we are in a new regime with substantially less summer ice than before," Leif Toudal Pedersen, a senior scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, said.
Copyright: arcticle: Newsmuse
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The opening of two major Arctic Ocean sea routes can only mean one thing: the Arctic is experiencing massive ice loss.
Satellites in 2008 saw the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and the Northern Sea Route above Russia were open simultaneously for the first time since satellite measurements started, and researchers say it has happened again, the European Space Agency reported in a release from its Paris headquarters Monday.
The ESA monitors arctic ice with its Envisat, CryoSat and SMOS satellites.
Satellites have recorded reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer during the last 30 years, from around 3 million square miles in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of less than 1.6 million square miles in 2007.
The early opening of both sea passages this year suggests a possible record low in ice cover.
"Whether we reach an absolute minimum or not, this year again confirms that we are in a new regime with substantially less summer ice than before," Leif Toudal Pedersen, a senior scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, said.
Copyright: arcticle: Newsmuse
Original article from:
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