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2 dni temu · The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet, and as a result, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is decreasing. Sea ice loss has far-reaching effects on the planet because the ice helps regulate Earth’s climate, influences global weather patterns, and affects ocean circulations.
- Science of Sea Ice
Sea ice typically drifts around the Arctic with prevailing...
- Science of Sea Ice
Sea ice, frozen seawater occurring within the Arctic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and their adjacent seas. It occurs as pack ice, which drifts across the ocean surface; landfast ice, which is attached to land or locked between grounded icebergs; and marine ice, which forms at the bottom of ice shelves.
Arctic sea ice is the frozen interface between the ocean and the atmosphere. It reduces the absorption of solar energy because of its high albedo relative to the darker open ocean surface. In addition, as a physical barrier, it modifies the heat and moisture transfer between the atmosphere and ocean.
Sea ice typically drifts around the Arctic with prevailing winds and ocean currents, and sea ice exits the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait. As ice thins, its speed increases, transporting more ice through the Strait, which results in more multiyear ice leaving the Arctic Ocean at an increasing rate.
Arctic Sea Ice. Arctic sea ice occupies an ocean basin mostly enclosed by land. Because there is no landmass at the North Pole, sea ice extends all the way to the pole, making the ice subject to the most extreme oscillations between wintertime darkness and summertime sunlight.
In the Arctic, sea ice extent (i.e. the total area of the ocean with at least 15% sea ice cover) generally reaches its annual maximum in March and its annual minimum in September (see figure in the sidebar).
Along with the reduction in sea ice extent, the type of sea ice in the Arctic is also changing. Sea ice type is a simple classification of the sea ice cover as either first-year ice (FYI) or multiyear ice (MYI), depending on whether it has survived at least one melt season [6].
