Here’s a compelling video from NASA that shows how sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking over time. It also has been getting younger and thinner, so it is poised to continue melting and contributing to rising sea levels in the Atlantic. The video has been compiled by Dr. Walt Meier of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which tracks changes in sea ice by satellite.
In a dramatic animation, the video shows how Arctic ice pulses out to the east, moving over the top of Greenland and down to the Atlantic, where it melts. This movement of sea ice starts over in the Beaufort Sea above Alaska. Until recently, as older, thicker ice there spins clockwise and moves to the east, it has been replenished. But lately this replenishment has not happened. The result is that the remaining older ice has broken up faster and has melted sooner. The Beaufort Sea used to be a nursery for younger ice, Dr. Meier says. Now it is a graveyard for older ice.
Dr. Meier says that ice more than five years old is disappearing from the Arctic, and the area is now dominated by younger and thinner ice, which in turn will melt even faster.
Take a look at the video here:
