The Arctic reaches its maximum sea ice in March each year and then starts a six-month melt season.
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre said the peak measurement taken on Saturday was 14.33 million square kilometres – about 80,000 square kilometres smaller than the lowest previous peak in 2017.
“Warming temperatures are what’s causing the ice to decline,” ice data scientist Walt Meier said. “You know, sea ice in particular is very sensitive… 31 degrees is ice skating and 33 degrees it’s swimming.”
Scientists said warming conditions in the Arctic – the region is warming four times faster than the rest of the world – affect weather elsewhere.
“The warming winter atmosphere above the Arctic Circle does impact large-scale weather patterns that do influence those of us outside the Arctic,” said Julienne Stroeve, an ice scientist at the University of Manitoba.
Of the smaller sea ice, Stroeve noted that not only was there less of it, the remaining ice was thin enough for more of it to melt quickly this summer. She cautioned that a record low area in the winter didn’t guarantee a record small area in the summer.
Melting Arctic sea ice – mostly in the summer – is making the polar bear population smaller, weaker and hungrier because they rely on the sea ice to hunt from, scientists said. And winter sea ice is especially important for fisheries and seal pups, Meier said.
Arctic sea ice’s biggest year since record-keeping began was 1979, at 16.64 million square kilometres. That means since satellites began tracking it, Arctic sea ice’s winter peak has shrunk by about the size of Pakistan. (AP)
