This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.
Since 1979, the first year we were able to look at sea ice from above with satellites, scientists have never seen less ice floating on the northern oceans at this time of year.
“This April (2007) has the lowest sea ice extent on record of any April we’ve seen before,” said Mark Serreze, a sea-ice specialist and senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. “We’re setting ourselves up this summer for a very large ice loss.”
Serreze’s observation comes at a time when he and his colleagues have written a paper in which they concluded that northern sea ice could disappear much earlier than computer models suggest.
“We’re a good 30 years ahead in ice loss than what the models are showing,” said Walt Meier of the University of Colorado. “Instead of losing ice in summer near the end of this century, it might occur before 2050.”