Arctic sea ice melts to lowest level on record

By Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters Thu 20 Sep, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arctic sea ice, a key indicator of climate change, melted to its
lowest level on record this year before beginning its autumnal freeze, researchers at the U.S.
National Snow and Ice Data Center said on Wednesday.

The extent of ice probably hit its low point on September 16, when it covered 1.32 million
square miles (3.42 million square km) of the Arctic Ocean, the smallest amount since satellite
records began 33 years ago.

Changing weather conditions could further shrink the extent, the center said. A final analysis
is expected next month.

The record was broken on August 26, when the ice shrank below the record set in 2007. After
that, it kept melting for three more weeks, bringing the ice extent - defined by NSIDC as the
area covered by at least 15 percent ice - to nearly half of the 1979-2000 average.

"We are now in uncharted territory," Mark Serreze, the center's director, said in a statement.
"While we've long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be
most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would
actually occur."

The summer ice isn't just dwindling. It is also thin, relatively fragile seasonal ice instead of
the hardier multi-year ice that can better withstand bright sunlight.

"The strong late-season decline is indicative of how thin the ice cover is," said NSIDC's Walt
Meier. "Ice has to be quite thin to continue melting away as the sun goes down and fall
approaches."

The Arctic is a potent weather-maker for the temperate zone, and is sometimes dubbed
Earth's air conditioner for its cooling effects. However, as ice wanes and temperatures rise in
the far north, the Arctic could add more heat and moisture to the climate system.

MORE EXTREME WEATHER?

"What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic," said Dan Lashof, a climate scientist at
the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. "This has a real impact on Americans
where they live and work."
Melting Arctic ice changes the shape and position of the jetstream, allowing tropical air to
penetrate further north and Arctic air to penetrate further south, Lashof said in a telephone
interview, leading to more extreme weather.

"That is a truly staggering rate of melting, far beyond what scientists thought would happen a
few years ago," Bob Ward of the London School of Economics and Political Science said in a
statement. "Policy-makers need to wake up to the scale and pace of the impacts from climate
change."

Recent climate models suggest the Arctic could be free of ice before 2050. But the observed
rate of melting is faster than what is shown in many of the models, according to NSIDC
scientist Julienne Stroeve.

Both the Northwest Passage along Canada's coast and the Northern Sea Route along Russia
were open to traffic this summer, and investors gathered in Alaska last month to discuss
commercial and transportation opportunities for the Arctic.

The environmental group Greenpeace International took issue with that approach.

"Rather than dealing with the root causes of climate change, the current response from our
leaders is to watch the ice melt and then divide up the spoils," the group's executive director,
Kumi Naidoo said in a statement.

(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Marilyn W.

Thompson and Xavier Briand)