Last year it was reported that the Arctic iswarming doubly as fastas anywhere else in the worldly concern , and as the region heats up , the ice continues to melt . This January and February saw the Arctic ocean ice psychiatrist to the depressed extent ever recorded by orbiter for both calendar month , make it a satellite - record low for two months in a row . And it seems that things are n’t looking to get in effect , as the screening of glass is ask to remain miserable as it reach its peak extent at the remainder of February and outset of March .
The new datum has been publish by theNational Snow and Ice Data Center , which has allege that January 2016 was “ a remarkably warm month . ”The figures releasedshow how sea ice concealment averaged 13.5 million square kilometers ( 5.2 million square miles ) for this calendar month , which is 1.04 million straightforward kilometre ( 402,000 hearty miles ) less than the 1981 to 2010 average . It is also 90,000 square kilometers ( 35,000 straight mile ) below the premature record January low , which happened in 2011 .
The figures for Februaryare even worse . Last month saw the total ice cover come in at 1.16 million straight km ( 448,000 substantial sea mile ) below the 1981 to 2010 average , and a shocking 200,000 square km ( 77,000 square miles ) less than the late record downhearted February in 2005 . This is not determine up to be a good class for the opposite realm , something that will no doubt be having a major encroachment on the wildlife that depends on the sea ice to survive .
The regions that have lost the most glass in the North Atlantic were in the Barents Sea , Kara Sea , and the East Greenland Sea , while on the Pacific side , they observed below average glass cover in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk . The reasons behind this dramatic personnel casualty of ocean ice rink are thought to be influenced not just by the “ unusually high air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean , ” but also by a in particular strong negativeArctic Oscillation .
This is a normal of sea - level pressure version over the region , which are characterized by lead circulating counterclockwise around the Arctic . The pattern this year “ featured high than average pressure over northern central Siberia into the Barents and Kara ocean regions , ” while being lower than medium over the North Pacific and North Atlantic . It is this , in combination with the atmospherical temperature being a thumping 6 ° C ( 13 ° F ) higher than average , that is thought to be driving the decline in sea ice .
The material tryout , however , will come this summer when scientist will see at what point the glass starts to violate up , and then how far it retreats . It is usually at its lowest in September , with 2012 currently holding the record for the lowest full summer extent . But if the current trend remain , which for January is seeing a simplification in sparkler extent of 3.2 percent per decade , affair are not count good for the summertime either .
Image in school text : Map show the extent of the January winter sea ice compared to the average . National Snow and Ice Data Center
