(reporter) Record breaking temperatures in 2016 have primed the Arctic for
another summer low sea ice cover. NASA has
some new images from this summers melt. Here to tell us about it is
Dr. Walt Meier at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. (Meier) Thank You.
(reporter) So globally its been the warmest year on record. What
the latest images show us about the summer in the Arctic.
(Meier) Globally its been the warmest year on record. It's also been a very warm
spring and summer in the Arctic as well, and not surprisingly that means the
ice starting melting earlier, melting faster and melting
more than what we've seen in the past, so its been a very
low ice sheet, we are opening a lot of open water, and its going to be one of the lowest
ice year we have seen in our satellite record.
(reporter) What is sea ice and
why is it important to the Arctic and the Earth as a whole?
(Meier) So sea ice is the ice that grows and melts with in the ocean and with in the
Arctic ocean. So it doesn't raise sea level, however because its
white, reflects a lot of the Sun's energy compared to the dark
ocean. So the sea ice helps keep the Arctic cooler
and thus helps keep the globe cooler. So the sea ice kind of acts like the Earth's
refrigerator. As we lose the ice cover replace it with the ocean that is
absorbing the Sun's energy, its like opening the refrigerator doors.
So we are losing the efficiency of the cooling ability of the arctic.
(reporter) Do you ever think we will see an
ice free summer in the Arctic? (Meier) We've seen the Arctic lose
ice over the last 35 plus years, and that
trend has accelerated in the last 10 years. So we're seeing things happen
very rapidity more rapidity than we have previously thought.
So its really become not a matter of if we'll see the ice, an ice free
Arctic, its a matter of when we'll see it. There is a lot of uncertainty about that.
but it really it's a matter of what year it will be
when we have an Arctic that its substantially ice free at least during the summer time.
(reporter) What about the rest of the Arctic aren't we
seen changes in Greenland as well? (Meier) Along with the sea ice
we're seeing big changes in Greenland as well. We are seeing more surface
melt, we're seeing glaciers speeding up, dumping more ice in to the
ocean. The key thing for Greenland, that's all ice
that sits on land. So as we lose that ice that goes into the ocean
that raises sea levels, so that has big impacts globally.
(reporter) Where can we learn more? (Meier) All of NASA's
data is on NASA's website, NASA.gov
you can also go on Twitter to @NASAEarth
and get all of NASA's data and look at some great imagery and read all about
what NASA is doing up in the Arctic and around the globe to understand climate.
(reporter) Great! Thanks so much. Dr. Walt Meier. (Meier) Alright thank you...