Scientists have warned that the Arctic region could be ‘mostly ice-free’ in just 10 years’ time.
The team from the University of Colorado has found that ice in the region is increasingly declining in the summer months.
Ordinarily the ice shrinks during the summer months before re-freezing in the winter, but in recent years it has been melting more and freezing back less than normal.
In order for the Arctic to be considered ‘ice-free’, there must be less than 386,000 square miles of sea ice in the Arctic, and the team of scientists predict this could occur in as soon as 10 years’ time.
“Ice-free conditions could occur as early as the 2020s and 2030s,” Alexandra Jahn, the lead author of the study, told USA Today, citing greenhouse gas emissions as the main cause of the loss of sea ice.
The loss of sea ice would be detrimental to people and wildlife living in the Arctic, as Jahn went on to explain.
“A decreasing sea ice cover threatens the survival of ice-adapted species like polar bears, who depend on sea ice to hunt,” Jahn told the outlet.
“So the longer ice-free conditions last, the more the survival of polar bears is threatened.
“For people living in the Arctic, the decline of Arctic sea ice affects how long they can travel over the frozen Arctic Ocean − as well as affecting coastal erosion, which can threaten seaside villages as larger open water areas lead to increases in wave heights.”
The loss of Arctic ice will also have a huge impact on the rest of the planet, as its presence plays a huge role in regulating the Earth’s temperature.
“Other studies have shown that the loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic has the potential to affect weather in the U.S. as well as increase wildfire risks in the western U.S,” Jahn explained.
Jahn’s team’s findings are worrying, but not all scientists agree that their predictions of the region being ‘ice-free’ in the next 10 years.
Naitonal Snow and Ice Data Centre senior researcher Walt Meier explained that there were “uncertainties” in the methodology used by the University of Colorado, and said he believed the Arctic becoming devoid of ice in the next decade is “not likely.”
However, he did say the more “plausible” prediction for the region becoming ice-free was the mid- to late 2030s, which really isn’t much further off.
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