Arctic Ice May Dip To Second Lowest Level

Scientists claim that Artic ice will reach at its second lowest level, recorded in last 30 years or since the time the experts have started keeping an eye on the level of Arctic ice with the coming of satellites.

According to the data collected by the experts, due to the melting process that initiated early this year, the level of Artic ice has become much lesser than the level of 2005, scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) have claimed.

NSIDC scientists maintained that though the overall temperature of this year is lower than the last year’s temperature but still somehow, the level of Arctic ice may fall to its lowest recorded point in September.

According to experts, Artic ice is at a climatic condition called “tipping point."

As of now, Arctic ice is spread over an area of 2.03 million square miles (5.26 million sq km) and in last September its lowest ever recorded level was nearly 1.65 million square miles.

As per scientists, during the course of last one year only thin ice was formed which is now melting away at a faster pace.

Scientists had envisaged a few years ago that by the summer of 2080 all the Artic ice will melt away. But to shock us out of our wits, the computer models suggest that this can happen roughly around 2030 to 2050, much earlier than the predicted year.

Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the NSIDC pointed out, "We could very well be in that quick slide downward in terms of passing a tipping point….It's tipping now. We're seeing it happen now."

If the melting process keeps continuing like this than during the summers the Arctic region will be absolutely ice free just within five to 10 or may be less than 10 years, a NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally proclaimed.

This means that the phenomenon called global warming is occurring at much faster rate than indicated by the models, he added.

In fact, W. W. Kellogg, a climatologist, as early as in 1979 wrote in an article namely Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (Vol. 7 pp.63-92) -"There are good reasons to believe that the Arctic Ocean may have just two stable states, a largely frozen-over one (as at present) and an ice free one."