National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Arctic Ice Isn't Refreezing in the Winter, Satellites Show


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Many marine animals, such as the bearded seal (at top), make their homes on Arctic sea ice. (Explore an interactive Arctic through the eyes of a bearded seal.)

New research shows that, for the second year in a row, a large amount of Arctic sea ice did not refreeze during the winter as it normally does, a trend that may indicate an overall shrinking of Arctic ice-cover due to rapid global climate change.

The maps at bottom show an overall decrease in minimum sea-ice extent—the area of ocean covered by at least 15 percent of ice—between 2002 and 2005. The pink outline shows the mean minimum sea-ice edge that existed between 1979 and 2000.

Top photograph by Flip Nicklin/NGS, bottom image courtesy National Snow and Ice Data Center