Sea ice update 🌊🧊

Sea ice at both of Earth’s poles continued declining in 2024. Antarctic sea ice reached near-historic lows on Feb. 20 and Arctic sea ice is the 14th lowest on record, @nsidcnews reports.

“Sea ice acts like a buffer between the ocean and the atmosphere,” said Linette Boisvert, an ice scientist @nasagoddard. “Sea ice prevents much of the exchange of heat and moisture from the relatively warm ocean to the atmosphere above it.”

Less ice coverage allows the ocean to warm the atmosphere over the poles, leading to more ice melting.

Scientists have connected declining Arctic sea ice to human-caused climate change, however the cause of low Antarctic sea ice is still being investigated.

Historically, the area of sea ice surrounding the Antarctic continent has fluctuated dramatically from year to year while averages over decades have been relatively stable. In recent years, sea ice cover around Antarctica has plummeted. However, it’s too soon to know whether recent sea ice lows at the South Pole point to a long-term change rather than a statistical fluctuation.

Image descriptions:
1: Visualization of Arctic sea ice on March 14, 2024, when Arctic sea ice hit its maximum extent. Earth is seen from the top down, with the Arctic in the center. Green and white land can be seen above and below it. Open ocean is blue on the left and right sides of the globe. Arctic sea ice extends from Greenland and parts of Canada to Russia.

2: Visualization of Antarctic sea ice on February 20, 2024, when sea ice there hit its lowest annual extent. Earth is seen from the bottom, with the South Pole in the center. The continent is white and has some sea ice surrounding it. The rest of the globe is blue ocean water in this view.

#Earth #Ice #Ocean #SeaIce #Arctic #Antarctica #NASA