Scientists have warned that the Arctic could experience "ice-free" summers over the next decade brought about by worsening global warming.
The frozen region sits at the northernmost point of the globe and is a unique ecosystem that is characterized by areas of permanent snow and ice. However, if the Earth continues to suffer from damaging levels of emissions, the Arctic could lose all of its ice and have summer days with practically no sea ice as early as the next couple of years.
Ice-Free Arctic
The warning was issued in a new peer-reviewed study out of the University of Colorado Boulder. The study, which was published on Tuesday, added that the first ice-free day in the Arctic could come more than 10 years earlier than previous scientific projections.
For experts, an ice-free day does not mean that there is absolutely no ice in the water, instead, the term is measured by the quantity of ice in the water below a certain threshold. Researchers noted that the ocean is ice-free when there is less than 1 million square kilometers of ice, as per CBS News.
Scientists argued that by the middle of this century, it is highly likely that the Arctic will have an ocean without floating ice for an entire month, during September, which is when the region experiences its lowest amount of ice coverage.
They also noted that by the end of the century, the ice-free season could span several months every year and could even occur in winter months if high emissions become the norm. Study researcher Alexandra Jahn said that greenhouse gasses are responsible for causing sea ice loss.
Whenever snow and ice cover decreases, the heat that is absorbed from the sun by the ocean increases, resulting in ice melt and warming in the Arctic. The latest study outlines that the loss of sea ice can disrupt the Arctic ecosystem in a variety of different ways.
Worsening Global Warming
Jahn argued that the situation could transform the Arctic into a completely different environment and turn it into a white summer Arctic into a blue Arctic. She argued that even if ice-free conditions are unavoidable, we still need to keep emissions as low as possible to avoid extended periods of ice-free conditions, according to The Guardian.
She added that unlike the ice sheet in Greenland, which took thousands of years to build, even if all of the Arctic sea ice were to melt, it could come back within a decade if we figure out a way to take CO2 back out of the atmosphere in the future and reverse global warming.
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts every summer session and then refreezes during winter. In the Arctic, the amount of sea ice has been on the decline for years. Sea ice also affects Arctic communities and wildlife, including polar bears and walruses. It also helps regulate the planet's temperature by influencing the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean.
Jahn warned that a decreasing sea ice cover threatens the survival of ice-adapted species such as polar bears, who depend on sea ice to hunt. She noted that the longer ice-free conditions last, the more the survival of these creatures is threatened, said USA Today.
