He smashed a record. Antarctic ice at its lowest level in over 500 years

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder reported that Antarctic sea ice has reached its lowest level in 45 years of records.

On February 21, scientists noted that Antarctica’s sea ice area had dropped to 1.79 million square kilometers, the report said. It should be noted that the previous “anti-record” was broken last year in 2022, but the current figures have dropped by another 136,000 square kilometers.

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The researchers note that the second figure is still preliminary and could change towards the end of the melting season – the final figure will be released in early March, but one way or another, the Antarctic sea ice minimum has already been reached.

Melting sea ice is known to expose the thicker ice shelves that support Antarctica’s underground ice sheet to waves and higher temperatures. At the same time, the researchers note that the melting of sea ice is unlikely to have a significant impact on sea levels, because, in fact, the ice is already underwater.

At the same time, scientists note that Antarctica’s huge ice shelves are surrounded by sea ice, an extension of freshwater glaciers, which threatens catastrophic sea level rise over centuries if they continue to melt as global temperatures rise.

According to Ted Scambos, senior fellow at the Environmental Science Collaboration Institute (CIRES), Antarctica’s response to climate change is different from that of the Arctic. The downward trend in sea ice levels could be a sign that global warming is starting to affect floating ice around Antarctica. But researchers will need at least a few more years of observations to be sure.

The researchers note that the Antarctic cycle fluctuates widely between summer melting and freezing winters, and therefore, in the past few decades, the continent has not experienced rapid melting like those affecting ice sheets in Greenland and the Arctic.

At the same time, the researchers note that a high melting rate has been observed since 2016, raising concerns that a similar trend may consolidate in the future.

It is important to understand that the melting of sea ice is a very serious problem because it somehow contributes to global warming. This is because white sea ice reflects up to 90% of the sun’s energy back into space, while water poses a threat when obscured by the dark, non-freezing sea by absorbing the same percentage of solar heat.

The researchers note that despite the cooling effect of natural La Niña weather, globally 2022 is currently the 5th or 6th warmest year on record.

Previously Focus He wrote that the collapse of the ice sheet at both poles will begin sooner than expected.