1 00:00:02,690 --> 00:00:07,400 The Arctic and the Antarctic play the role of, kind of like an air conditioner for the Earth system 2 00:00:07,420 --> 00:00:09,480 So they’re cold, they have a lot of ice 3 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:09,950 4 00:00:09,970 --> 00:00:14,180 They reflect a lot of the solar energy, so they stay colder than they otherwise would 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:14,420 6 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,480 They’re more sensitive to climate change 7 00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:16,760 8 00:00:16,780 --> 00:00:23,420 and therefore they’re the regions that we see the biggest effects of climate change so far and the biggest effects of warming 9 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,110 They’re kind of a canary in a coalmine of global warming 10 00:00:27,130 --> 00:00:27,400 11 00:00:27,420 --> 00:00:29,910 This year’s Arctic sea ice minimum is 12 00:00:29,930 --> 00:00:33,980 in about the top ten of the lowest that we’ve seen in the last three and a half decades 13 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:34,170 14 00:00:34,190 --> 00:00:36,370 As the global temperature has increased 15 00:00:36,390 --> 00:00:37,850 the temperatures in the Arctic 16 00:00:37,870 --> 00:00:39,140 especially in the past decade 17 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:41,680 have increased by about two to three times the global average 18 00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:42,470 19 00:00:42,490 --> 00:00:44,890 And so what’s happening is as temperatures increase, ice melts 20 00:00:44,910 --> 00:00:45,400 21 00:00:45,420 --> 00:00:50,100 This year in the Antarctic we’ve seen a pretty spectacular maximum extent 22 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,180 The Antarctic sea ice has expanded beyond anything 23 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,760 we’ve seen before and set a new record 24 00:00:55,780 --> 00:00:56,230 25 00:00:56,250 --> 00:01:00,590 The increase that we’re seeing in the Antarctic extent is a little bit of a mystery 26 00:01:00,610 --> 00:01:01,400 27 00:01:01,420 --> 00:01:04,460 We’re seeing overall temperatures warming around the globe 28 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:05,110 29 00:01:05,130 --> 00:01:07,380 So you would expect to see ice loss 30 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:07,880 31 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:14,080 Some people have looked at the Antarctic increasing trend and used that to suggest that global warming isn’t happening 32 00:01:14,100 --> 00:01:18,910 or that the increase in the Antarctic gives offset in the decrease in the Arctic 33 00:01:18,930 --> 00:01:20,960 and that’s simply not true. 34 00:01:20,980 --> 00:01:25,320 If you look at simply the magnitudes in the changes we’re seeing in the winter time 35 00:01:25,340 --> 00:01:30,020 the Arctic is decreasing about twice as fast as what the Antarctic is increasing 36 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:30,530 37 00:01:30,550 --> 00:01:33,700 It’s important to look at the relationship between the Arctic and Antarctic 38 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,770 because studying those gives us an indication of what changes 39 00:01:37,790 --> 00:01:40,300 we’re going to see around the rest of the globe in the future 40 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:42,783