Sea-ice levels in Antarctica at a 'mind-blowing' historic low [View all]
Source: Business Insider
Sep 17, 2023, 6:09 AM EDT
Sea-ice levels in Antarctica reached a record low in mid-September, satellite imagery from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows. Sea ice, the water that freezes on the surface of the sea in the Arctic and Antarctic hemispheres, has been decreasing in both regions.
In Antarctica, sea ice levels reached record lows at least twice in 2023 after record minimums were detected in 2017 and 2022. "It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," Walter Meier, senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, told the BBC.
An unstable Antarctica could have far-reaching consequences for Earth's climate, forcing global temperatures to rise with potentially devastating consequences for humanity, scientists warn. Understanding the extent of climate crisis in Antarctica has been challenging for scientists. The region is 1.5 times the size of the US, and there's a lack of historical information.
"When I started studying the Antarctic 30 years ago, we never thought extreme weather events could happen there," Prof Martin Siegert, a glaciologist at the University of Exeter, told the BBC. But scientists seem to be changing their mind.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-ice-levels-in-antarctica-reached-a-new-historic-low-2023-9
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