[slate] Well it's been a warm year globally and
it's been a very warm year in the Arctic as well. And not surprisingly that means
that we've lost sea ice earlier and faster then we have
normally and we're heading towards another very low summer minimum
in terms of Arctic sea ice this year.
[slate] Sea ice is the ice that grows and melts with
the Arctic Ocean. It grows in the winter time when it gets cold and
melts during, through the summer time. So it doesn't raise
sea level, but it's very important for the global climate system
because it's very bright and reflective. It reflects a lot of the sun's energy
that comes in during the summertime and helps keep the Arctic cooler.
It's like a refrigerator for the global climate system
by keeping the globe cooler than it normally would be without sea ice
And as we lose the ice, it's like we're opening the refrigerator door
and not cooling things as efficiently as we used to.
[slate] The
Arctic sea ice has been changing quite rapidly. We've seen a decline
over the 35 plus year of our record. The last 15 years particularly
it's been accelerating. So really it's become a matter of when
not if we lose the Arctic sea ice because we have a lot of warmth in the Arctic
that continue to warm. We're going to continue to melt sea ice. There's
uncertainly as to exactly when that will happen. But sometime in the not-to-distant future
faster than we used to think, the Arctic Ocean will be substantially
ice-free by the end of summer.
[slate] Arctic sea ice is not the only
place where we're seeing big changes. We're also seeing big changes in Greenland
which is the big mass of ice on top of the continent
and we're seeing more and more melt. We're seeing ice cap
calving off as icebergs. So we're seeing big
masses of ice loss over the last
several years. That means that ice is going into the ocean
and that's raising sea levels. So that's going to have big impacts down the road
as we continue to lose more and more ice from Greenland.
[slate]
Well we're tracking a cyclone that's going through right now actually
up through the Arctic. A very strong cyclone, very deep
pressure. Basically the equivalent of about a Category 2 hurricane actually.
So very strong winds. It's kicking a lot of ocean waves
Those ocean waves are going to help break up the ice
bring a lot of heat to the ice, enhance melt. And so it's going to be interesting to see what
happens to the ice cover. Normally this time of year the ice melt is starting to
slow down. The sun is starting to set. Things are starting to cool down.
But this big storm could have been impacts in terms of losing
a lot of ice at this late stage in the sea ice season.
That's exactly what happened in 2012. So we'll see if it has as big of an impact as
it did back then.
[slate] NASA has a lot of information at nasa.gov/earth
and on Twitter @NASAEarth. All the data
at NASA is online. And a lot of information about
climate change, global warming and changes in the Arctic and
NASA's missions to study those like ICESat-2,
which is a big satellite that we're going to be launching in 2018, and
Operation IceBridge which has been flying for the last several years taking measurements
of Greenland and the sea ice in the Arctic and
in the Antarctic.