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The Arctic ice cap hit its winter peak earlier this year, but scientists say the summer season will paint a better picture of climate change.
The sea ice cap over the Arctic reached its annual maximum winter coverage on February 25th this year, and according to data from the NASA supported National Snow and Ice Data Centre, the 14.54 million square kilometres of ice in the Arctic was the smallest amount of coverage recorded and also one of the earliest time periods for peak ice coverage in the winter season.
According to NASA, the Arctic ice cap is in constant change, growing in the fall and winter and typically reaching its annual maximum between late February and early April. The ice cap then shrinks in the spring and summer, eventually hitting its annual minimum extent in September.
Photo credit: Goddard Space Flight Centre, NASA website.
The Artic ice cap has seen regression in the past, however; the decline typically takes place during the melting season. In fact, a record low ice cap maximum does not necessarily lead to a record low summertime minimum extent, explained a NASA press release.
“The winter maximum gives you a head start, but the minimum is so much more dependent on what happens in the summer that it seems to wash out anything that happens in the winter,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “If the summer is cool, the melt rate will slow down. And the opposite is true, too: even if you start from a fairly high point, warm summer conditions make ice melt fast. This was highlighted by 2012, when we had one of the later maximums on record and extent was near-normal early in the melt season, but still the 2012 minimum was by far the lowest minimum we’ve seen.”
“Scientifically, the yearly maximum extent is not as interesting as the minimum. It is highly influenced by weather and we’re looking at the loss of thin, seasonal ice that is going to melt anyway in the summer and won’t become part of the permanent ice cover,” Meier said. “With the summertime minimum, when the extent decreases it’s because we’re losing the thick ice component, and that is a better indicator of warming temperatures.”
On Monday, representatives from the New Democratic Party called for an emergency debate on the decline of Arctic sea ice.
“Sea ice is critical to the Arctic’s ecology and economy,” said NDP Environment Critic Megan Leslie. “Local communities depend on frozen ground to transport food and other necessities of life for much of the year. It also provides shelter, hunting grounds and breeding space for local wildlife. It is our responsibility as parliamentarians to have an immediate and in-depth discussion about prevention, mitigation, and adaptation.”
Photo credit: Goddard Space Flight Centre, NASA website.
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