WEBVTT FILE

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[slate] Well it's been a warm year globally and

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it's been a very warm year in the Arctic as well. And not surprisingly that means

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that we've lost sea ice earlier and faster then we have

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normally and we're heading towards another very low summer minimum

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in terms of Arctic sea ice this year.

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[slate] Sea ice is the ice that grows and melts with

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the Arctic Ocean. It grows in the winter time when it gets cold and

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melts during, through the summer time. So it doesn't raise

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sea level, but it's very important for the global climate system

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because it's very bright and reflective. It reflects a lot of the sun's energy

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that comes in during the summertime and helps keep the Arctic cooler.

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It's like a refrigerator for the global climate system

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by keeping the globe cooler than it normally would be without sea ice

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And as we lose the ice, it's like we're opening the refrigerator door

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and not cooling things as efficiently as we used to.

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[slate] The

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Arctic sea ice has been changing quite rapidly. We've seen a decline

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over the 35 plus year of our record. The last 15 years particularly

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it's been accelerating. So really it's become a matter of when

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not if we lose the Arctic sea ice because we have a lot of warmth in the Arctic

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that continue to warm. We're going to continue to melt sea ice. There's

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uncertainly as to exactly when that will happen. But sometime in the not-to-distant future

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faster than we used to think, the Arctic Ocean will be substantially

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ice-free by the end of summer.

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[slate] Arctic sea ice is not the only

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place where we're seeing big changes. We're also seeing big changes in Greenland

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which is the big mass of ice on top of the continent

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and we're seeing more and more melt. We're seeing ice cap

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calving off as icebergs. So we're seeing big

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masses of ice loss over the last

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several years. That means that ice is going into the ocean

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and that's raising sea levels. So that's going to have big impacts down the road

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as we continue to lose more and more ice from Greenland.

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[slate]

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Well we're tracking a cyclone that's going through right now actually

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up through the Arctic. A very strong cyclone, very deep

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pressure. Basically the equivalent of about a Category 2 hurricane actually.

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So very strong winds. It's kicking a lot of ocean waves

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Those ocean waves are going to help break up the ice

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bring a lot of heat to the ice, enhance melt. And so it's going to be interesting to see what

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happens to the ice cover. Normally this time of year the ice melt is starting to

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slow down. The sun is starting to set. Things are starting to cool down.

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But this big storm could have been impacts in terms of losing

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a lot of ice at this late stage in the sea ice season.

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That's exactly what happened in 2012. So we'll see if it has as big of an impact as

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it did back then.

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[slate] NASA has a lot of information at nasa.gov/earth

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and on Twitter @NASAEarth. All the data

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at NASA is online. And a lot of information about

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climate change, global warming and changes in the Arctic and

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NASA's missions to study those like ICESat-2,

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which is a big satellite that we're going to be launching in 2018, and

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Operation IceBridge which has been flying for the last several years taking measurements

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of Greenland and the sea ice in the Arctic and

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in the Antarctic.