Arctic to Become Ice-Free: Climate Scientists Claim it’s Too Late
According to a new study, even if greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced, the Arctic will still be ice-free by September in the coming years. The research suggests that if emissions continue at their current rate, or even decline slowly, the Arctic could experience its first ice-free summer in the 2030s, a decade earlier than previously estimated. The findings indicate that 90 percent of the melting is due to human-induced global warming. Arctic sea ice has shrunk by 13 percent in a decade, with satellite records since 1979 showing a significant decline during summers.
Prof Dirk Notz from the University of Hamburg, one of the study’s co-authors, laments that the warning signs were there for decades, but people did not heed them: “Unfortunately, it has come too late to recover Arctic summer sea ice. This is the first major component of the Earth system we will lose due to global warming.”
Prof Seung-Ki Min from Pohang University, the study’s lead author, stated that the most significant impact for human society will be the increase in extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, wildfires, and floods. Therefore, there is a need to “more ambitiously reduce CO2 emissions as well as adapt to faster Arctic warming and its impacts on human society and ecosystems.”
The loss of Arctic summer sea ice is of great concern since it holds significant importance in the Earth’s system, acting as a reflector of sunlight back into space and helping to regulate global temperatures. The loss of sea ice can lead to increased Arctic surface temperatures and changes in circulation patterns that can disrupt ecosystems, the weather, and human livelihoods. It is high time to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the inevitable impacts of climate change in the Arctic and beyond.
