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Climate Change Assessment over the Arctic Region
Published in Neloy Khare, Climate Change in the Arctic, 2022
A slight rise in temperature at the poles leads to still more significant warming over time, thus making the Polar regions the most sensitive areas to a subtle change in earth’s climates. Accordingly, both the thickness and extent of the Arctic’s summer sea ice have shown a dramatic decline over the past 30 years, consistent with observations of a warming Arctic. The loss of sea ice can also accelerate global warming trends and change climate patterns.
Welfare Effect
Published in Wayne T. Davis, Joshua S. Fu, Thad Godish, Air Quality, 2021
Wayne T. Davis, Joshua S. Fu, Thad Godish
Sea ice is a major factor in regulating heat and moisture exchange and ocean salinity. It provides a habitat for major polar species such as polar bears, seals, and penguins. As it thins, coastal areas become subject to erosion, altering marine mammal habitat.
Water and the Hydrosphere
Published in Dexter Perkins, Kevin R. Henke, Adam C. Simon, Lance D. Yarbrough, Earth Materials, 2019
Dexter Perkins, Kevin R. Henke, Adam C. Simon, Lance D. Yarbrough
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that floats on the ocean surface. During the last century, sea ice has covered as much as 15% of the oceans during cold seasons. The exact amount varies seasonally as it freezes from, or melts to become, ocean water, but today it is disappearing. Sea ice exists in both polar regions, but most significantly in the Arctic. As shown in Figure 12.36, about 4 million square kilometers of Arctic sea ice have disappeared since 1980. Although there have been a few bumps along the way, the long-term trend is clear: sea ice is disappearing at a rate of about 100,000 square kilometers per year, and between 2003 and 2016 more than 40% of the total volume of Arctic Sea ice disappeared. The data shown in Figure 12.36 have prompted some predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in the near future. The rate of ice loss, however, is highly variable, making precise predictions impossible. Melting sea ice has little direct impact on sea level, but there are other areas of concern. For example, relatively young sea ice contains salt as trapped brine pockets and droplets, but in older ice nearly all the brine is gone. So, as young ice melts and is not replaced, salt is added to the oceans, making the water denser and causing it to move downward— and potentially altering ocean circulation.
Light from space illuminating the polar silk road
Published in International Journal of Digital Earth, 2022
Xiao-Ming Li, Yujia Qiu, Yacheng Wang, Bingqing Huang, Haiming Lu, Min Chu, Han Fu, Fengming Hui
Melting of ice and snow in the Arctic Ocean, on the one hand, induces direct and indirect impacts on the regional and global environment and climate, e.g. sea-ice albedo feedback (Thackeray and Hall 2019), sea level rising (Jenkins and Holland 2007), atmosphere and ocean circulation (Chylek et al. 2009; Simmonds and Keay 2009). On the other hand, it allows vessels to use the Arctic sea routes to connect Asia with Europe and America to enhance economic development (Laulajainen 2009). The NSR stretches approximately 2800 kilometers along the Russian Arctic coast from Novaya Zemlya to the Bering Strait. Compared with the more commonly used shipping route via the Suez Canal, connecting Asia and Europe, the NSR route is one-third of the distance shorter, meaning less travel time and lower fuel consumption and costs.
Copernicus Marine Service Ocean State Report
Published in Journal of Operational Oceanography, 2018
Karina von Schuckmann, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Neville Smith, Ananda Pascual, Pierre Brasseur, Katja Fennel, Samy Djavidnia, Signe Aaboe, Enrique Alvarez Fanjul, Emmanuelle Autret, Lars Axell, Roland Aznar, Mario Benincasa, Abderahim Bentamy, Fredrik Boberg, Romain Bourdallé-Badie, Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli, Vittorio E. Brando, Clément Bricaud, Lars-Anders Breivik, Robert J.W. Brewin, Arthur Capet, Adrien Ceschin, Stefania Ciliberti, Gianpiero Cossarini, Marta de Alfonso, Alvaro de Pascual Collar, Jos de Kloe, Julie Deshayes, Charles Desportes, Marie Drévillon, Yann Drillet, Riccardo Droghei, Clotilde Dubois, Owen Embury, Hélène Etienne, Claudia Fratianni, Jesús García Lafuente, Marcos Garcia Sotillo, Gilles Garric, Florent Gasparin, Riccardo Gerin, Simon Good, Jérome Gourrion, Marilaure Grégoire, Eric Greiner, Stéphanie Guinehut, Elodie Gutknecht, Fabrice Hernandez, Olga Hernandez, Jacob Høyer, Laura Jackson, Simon Jandt, Simon Josey, Mélanie Juza, John Kennedy, Zoi Kokkini, Gerasimos Korres, Mariliis Kõuts, Priidik Lagemaa, Thomas Lavergne, Bernard le Cann, Jean-François Legeais, Benedicte Lemieux-Dudon, Bruno Levier, Vidar Lien, Ilja Maljutenko, Fernando Manzano, Marta Marcos, Veselka Marinova, Simona Masina, Elena Mauri, Michael Mayer, Angelique Melet, Frédéric Mélin, Benoit Meyssignac, Maeva Monier, Malte Müller, Sandrine Mulet, Cristina Naranjo, Giulio Notarstefano, Aurélien Paulmier, Begoña Pérez Gomez, Irene Pérez Gonzalez, Elisaveta Peneva, Coralie Perruche, K. Andrew Peterson, Nadia Pinardi, Andrea Pisano, Silvia Pardo, Pierre-Marie Poulain, Roshin P. Raj, Urmas Raudsepp, Michaelis Ravdas, Rebecca Reid, Marie-Hélène Rio, Stefano Salon, Annette Samuelsen, Michela Sammartino, Simone Sammartino, Anne Britt Sandø, Rosalia Santoleri, Shubha Sathyendranath, Jun She, Simona Simoncelli, Cosimo Solidoro, Ad Stoffelen, Andrea Storto, Tanguy Szerkely, Susanne Tamm, Steffen Tietsche, Jonathan Tinker, Joaquín Tintore, Ana Trindade, Daphne van Zanten, Luc Vandenbulcke, Anton Verhoef, Nathalie Verbrugge, Lena Viktorsson, Karina von Schuckmann, Sarah L. Wakelin, Anna Zacharioudaki, Hao Zuo
Changes in sea-ice extent and volume (Section 1.4) are important for several aspects of ocean and climate monitoring, as well as for safe marine operation in and close to ice-covered regions. Sea ice is an integrated part of the climate system through its effect on surface albedo and heat and momentum flux between the ocean and the atmosphere. Sea-ice thickness, being a crucial parameter for sea-ice volume, is important for the freshwater content and cycle in the Arctic (Carmack et al. 2016), and also has an impact on the ice drift speed. Sea-ice thickness affects the opening of leads and biological production below the sea ice (Assmy et al. 2017; Horvat et al. 2017).