By IANS,
Washington : Arctic sea ice may have reached its lowest volumes ever, as its summer ice coverage looks like replicating last year’s record lows.
Final figures on minimum ice coverage for 2008 are expected shortly, but they are already flirting with last year’s record low of 1.59 million square miles, or 4.13 million square kilometres.
“If you take reduced ice thickness into account, there is probably less ice overall in the Arctic this year than in any other year since monitoring began,” said Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change advisor, World Wildlife Fund’s International Arctic Programme.
“This is also the first year that the Northwest Passage over the top of North America, and the Northeast Passage over the top of Russia are both free of ice,” he said.
The area of ice that is at least five years old has decreased by 56 per cent between 1985 and 2007. The oldest ice types have essentially disappeared.
“We are expecting confirmation of 2008 being either the lowest or the second-lowest year in terms of summer ice coverage,” Sommerkorn said.
“This means two years in a row of record lows since we started recording Arctic sea ice coverage, and a continuing catastrophic downward trend.”
“There are already signs that species such as polar bears are experiencing negative effects as climate change erodes the ice platform on which they rely.”
“Arctic ice is like a mirror, reflecting the sun’s heat back into space. As that ice goes, Arctic waters absorb more heat, adding to global warming,” he said.