Arctic sea ice may melt to record low in September

China Climate Change Info-Net

The Artic sea ice is melting at an accelerating speed so that the sea ice extent will likely to hit a record low by this September, according to a report of U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in the media reports Monday.

"Today is a historic day," said Mark Serreze a senior research scientist at the center, on Thursday. "This is the least sea ice we've ever seen in the satellite record and we have another month left to go in the melt season this year." 

Scientists began monitoring the extent of Arctic sea ice in the 1970s when satellite images became available.

The melting is actually occurring faster than computer climate models have predicted. At the ice melting rates now, a complete melt could happen by 2030, Serreze said.

Artic sea has long been of concern to climate specialists studying global warming because the polar regions are expected to feel the impact of climate change sooner and to a greater extent than other areas. 

"It is very strong evidence that we are starting to see an effect of greenhouse warming," Serreze said. 

Sea ice in the Arctic can keep those regions cool by reflecting sunlight that might be absorbed by darker land or ocean surfaces. The melting causes the regions to be exposed directly to the sunlight and heated up in shorter time. 

There are several natural reasons for the accelerating melting process: the unusually clear sky over the regions of the Arctic sea in this summer, an unusually high amount of solar energy pumping onto the Arctic ice surface, fairly strong winds bringing in some warm air from the south, and so on. 

But "natural variations can't explain everything," said Sheldon Drobot, who leads Arctic ice forecasting at CU-Boulder's aerospace engineering department, "There is an element of human activity in the cause of this melt." 

Source:Xinhuanet
Date:2007-8-22