Bering Sea Ice Cover In Winters Of 2018, 2019 Was Lowest In Thousands Of Years
LONDON (Reuters) - The Bering Sea ice cover during the winters of 2018 and 2019 hit new lows not seen in thousands of years, scientists reported on Wednesday, adding to concerns about the accelerating impact of climate change in the Arctic.
Satellite data provides a clear picture of how sea ice has changed over the last four decades in the region between the Arctic and northern Pacific oceans. Beyond that, the only ice records available were those recorded in ship logs and other observations.
So scientists turned to peat land, which holds organic compounds from plants dating back millennia, on the remote St. Matthew island off Alaska. By examining different forms of oxygen molecules trapped in the sediment, the scientists were able to estimate atmospheric and ocean conditions that would have affected rainfall and sea ice over some 5,500 years, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.
“The island in itself has acted as its own weather station,” said study co-author Matthew Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The sediment layers in the peat cores serve as a “book going back in time.”
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-arctic/winter-sea-ice-in-bering-sea-reached-lowest-levels-in-millennia-study-idUSKBN25T2YN
