Arctic sea ice is melting faster than expected

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate models predicted, researchers at the University of Copenhagen warned on Tuesday.

So far, climate models have predicted a slow and steady rise in arctic temperatures, but a new study shows warming is occurring at a faster rate.

“We clearly underestimated the rate of temperature rise in the atmosphere closest to sea level, which ultimately caused sea ice to disappear faster than expected,” said Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, professor at the University of Copenhagen and one of the researchers. involved in the study, in a statement.

Their results, published in the journal Nature at the end of July, showed that the unusually high temperatures currently seen in the Arctic Ocean were only seen during the previous ice age.

Analyzes of ice cores have revealed that temperatures over the Greenland ice sheet have risen several times during this period, between 10 and 12 degrees, over a period of 40 to 100 years.

“The changes happen so quickly during the summer months that sea ice will likely disappear faster than most climate models have ever predicted,” Hesselbjerg Christensen said.

In June 2019, a photograph of the first ice melt in northwest Greenland made headlines around the world.

It showed sled dogs struggling through an inch or two of meltwater collecting on top of the ice. With a snowless mountain in the background, the dogs appear to be walking on the water.

A recent study from the British University of Lincoln concluded that melting ice in Greenland alone is expected to contribute 10 to 12 centimeters to global sea level rise by 2100.

Another group of researchers recently concluded that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet has gone so far that it is now irreversible, with snowfall no longer able to compensate for the loss of ice even if global warming were to end today. hui.