Sea Ice Shrinking Globally, Increasing in Antarctica

Information learned from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center shows that even though ice is on the increase in Antarctica, globally Artic sea ice is still decreasing overall. Earth’s ice has been melting at approximately 13,500 square miles yearly for the last 35 years.

Antarctica is making new ice at a higher rate than ever, but it can’t make up for the loss in overall global sea ice. Claire Parkinson, a Climate Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, explains that the decreases far exceed the increases in the Antarctic. This was determined using NASA and Department of Defense (DoD) satellite data. The accumulated data indicated that the downward trend in ice from 1978 to 2013 was clearly down every month, even those with maximum ice produced in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice.

In fact, the downward trend more than doubled during the second half of the study. Parkinson confirms that this does not mean that sea ice loss will have an ongoing acceleration. When Arctic ice is gone in summer that will obviously be unable to progress during that time.

Sea ice is shrinking in almost all of the Arctic. In Antarctic regions, the increases are not as widespread. Global minimum ice occurs in February and maximum global ice extent is in either October or November.

If you question why sea ice is important, Parkinson explains that sea ice is very reflective. Liquid ocean water is absorptive. A reduction of sea ice means a decrease in surface area to reflect the sun’s radiation, leading to a buildup in  the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to increased global warming.

In the long term, Parkinson believes that Antarctic sea ice will probably slow down in its growth and possible begin to decrease. The bottom line is that right now, the decreasing ice in the Arctic and increasing sea ice in the Antarctic do not, in fact, cancel each other out.

This is yet another piece of the global warming puzzle. Whether you believe in it or not, scientific evidence continues to point to climate change related to global warming. Scientists all over the world continue to study the seas, weather, carbon levels, air pollution, greenhouse gases and more to make sense of our ever-changing climate.

Right now, in the northeast US, record colds and heavy snowfalls are burying coastal states. They are likely complaining that global warming is not existent and if it was, it isn’t doing anything now. This is actually untrue. Global warming is the entire planet, not just the US. It encompasses the entire planet’s average temperature. Those studying global warming are watching for changes in whether the average global temperature is changing. If another country on the other side of the world happens to be having hotter than average temperatures when the US is experiencing colder temps, it is the average that matters overall.

Parkinson’s research and ongoing monitoring of sea ice will simply add another component to the picture of global warming. Hopefully somewhere in all of the scientific research going on, lies an answer or answers to help us all live comfortably on our Earth for as long as possible.