Climate change is changing entire landscapes. This is particularly clear in the Arctic, which may not have any more ice in summer in ten years.
Frankfurt – Drought summer and extreme weather: To the consequences of the climate change It is often enough to look out of the window to find out. In Europe, climate change is leading above all to extreme heat, which is expected to become more frequent and more intense. Other places in the world are changing even more drastically. That the rising temperatures the ice of Arctic melt is well known. According to a study, however, this is much faster than previously thought. In the worst case, there could be no more ice in the Arctic in the summer in ten years.
polar region at the North Pole |
climate change |
melting ice |
According to the study, ten years earlier than previously thought |
According to the study, ice in the Arctic is melting much faster than previously thought – ice-free in ten years
In a study, researchers evaluated more than 40 years of satellite data that observed the decline in sea ice in the region of the North Pole and came to a frightening conclusion: Even with low CO₂ emissions, the Arctic could be without summer a decade earlier be ice than previously assumed.
“The results show that, regardless of emission scenarios, the first sea-ice-free September will already occur in the 2030s to 2050s,” write the authors around South Korean researcher Min Seung Ki from Pohang University of Science and Technology in the journal Nature Communications. The ice stock in the Arctic has been shrinking for decades and last year was at its lowest level ever measured.
Arctic ice-free in summer in ten years – researchers will be looking at data from 40 years
For their forecast, the researchers evaluated the data for each calendar month between 1979 and 2019 and first compared them with simulated changes. The Arctic ice stocks reach their lowest level in September. “The Arctic sea ice area has been shrinking rapidly every year for the past few decades, with an ever-increasing decrease since 2000,” says the team, which also includes climate researcher Dirk Notz from the university Hamburg is located.
New Study on Arctic Ice Melt Goes Beyond Climate Council – Ice-Free Arctic in 10 Years
According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report, the Arctic will be virtually ice-free by the month of September in a medium-high greenhouse gas emissions scenario by mid-century. However, the results of the study go beyond that.
The researchers conclude from their forecast “that we could experience an unprecedented ice-free Arctic climate in the next decade or two, regardless of the emission scenario”. The effects of an ice-free Arctic are not only limited to the area around the North Pole, but can also be felt in ecosystems worldwide. According to the researchers, it is therefore now important to prepare for a seasonally ice-free Arctic and to plan accordingly. Not only the Arctic is affected by climate change, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it is even the greatest challenge facing mankind. (kiba/dpa)
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