The political news cycle is becoming increasingly hectic and depressing. The news under the sea ice will get buried, so I’m afraid everything else will get buried too. I thought those of you who follow the climate emergency at DK would want to learn about this important piece of the global warming puzzle. We’ll learn together.
In case you missed it, there is further evidence that increasing radiative forcing is warming the oceans.
Derek Smith University of MichiganA University of Michigan press conference noted that new research shows the Arctic has lost roughly a quarter of its cooling potential over the past 40 years, and the world as a whole has lost 15 percent.
Using satellite measurements of cloud cover and solar radiation reflected by sea ice from 1980 to 2023, the researchers found that the rate of decline in sea ice cooling is roughly twice the rate of decline in annual average sea ice extent in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The additional warming impact of this change in sea ice cooling is near the upper end of climate model estimates.
When using Climate Simulation “Quantifying how melting sea ice affects the climate typically requires a century of simulations before we have an answer,” said Marc Flanner, professor of climate and space science and engineering and corresponding author of the study. Published in Geophysical Research Letters“We’re now at the point where we have satellite data records long enough that we can infer sea ice climate feedbacks through measurements.”
The Arctic has seen the greatest and most steady decline in sea ice cooling since 1980, while until recently Antarctica appeared to be more resilient to climate change: Antarctic sea ice extent remained relatively stable from 2007 through the 2010s, and the cooling potential of Antarctic sea ice was actually on an upward trend during that time.
That view suddenly changed in 2016, when one of the continent’s largest ice shelves melted over an area larger than Texas. Antarctic sea ice was also lost at that time, and its cooling power has not been restored, a new study says. As a result, 2016 and the seven years that followed had the weakest cooling effect on global sea ice since the early 1980s.
The remaining sea ice in the Arctic has become weaker and less reflective as meltwater pools on the surface and precipitation increases.
Antarctica has more knowledge gaps than the Arctic. The environment is harsh and difficult to reach and study. Satellite data measurements fill in those gaps. Antarctic land temperatures recently broke records for the coldest temperatures, but the greatest dangers to the ice lie below the surface.
Lead author Alisher Dospayev noted that the 2016 sea ice loss “increased the warming feedback from sea ice loss by 40 percent,” and if the findings are accurate, this data should be added to climate models.
Study: Radiative effects of Earth’s sea ice from 1980 to 2023
