Ice in the Arctic Beats September 2005 Low

Today was a historic day according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, as they announced enormous meltdowns of sea ice in the Arctic. The amount of sea ice present in the Arctic was now the lowest recorded ever, they said.

According to satellite measurements, the current volume of ice in the Arctic is 2.02 million square miles. This number is slated to undergo further downward revisions, with more ice still to melt over the coming month or so.

The current volume of 2.02 million square miles beat the previous record of 2.05 square miles for the lowest recorded sea ice. That record was set almost two years back in 2005, on September 21.

Senior research scientist at the center Mark Serreze said this volume was the least the satellite had ever recorded. With the melting of the ice far from being over – it is slated to go on for at least a month more – scientists are expecting the number of square miles to fall further.

Scientists at the center said the levels of sea ice are low not just in the Beaufort Sea towards the north of Alaska, but also towards Eastern Siberia. The levels of sea ice have dipped also in the Canadian Archipelago.

The trend of reduced sea ice levels continues in that part of the Arctic Ocean that is towards the Atlantic. While sea ice levels are not abnormally low here, it is still not at normal or at the levels recorded here earlier.

The Colorado center is part of Colorado University; specifically, part of the Co-operative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. It is supported by various organizations, including NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The first time scientists took to keeping an eye on Arctic ice levels from a scientific point of view was way back in the 1970s. The monitoring was made possible primarily due to the brand new concept, in those times, of satellite imagery.

Scientists have long been using the polar ice caps as a barometer of sorts to keep tabs on the global warming scenario, as the ice caps are the first to feel any changes in the climate.