Arctic sea ice has INCREASED in volume by a third in recent years despite warnings that it is melting away, according to a new study.
Scientists observed 33 per cent more ice than the average in 2013, and 25 per cent more the year after.
Looking at 88 million measurements of sea ice thickness recorded by the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 mission between 2010 and 2014, the researchers also found that there was a 5 per cent drop in the number of days on which melting occurred in 2013.
“The summer of 2013 was much cooler than recent years with temperatures typical of those seen in the late 1990s,” said lead author Rachel Tilling, a PhD student from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at UCL.
But the study’s co-author Andy Shepherd, Professor of Earth Observation at UCL and Leeds University, maintains that the ice will continue to shrink in the years ahead.
“The events of 2013 will have simply wound the clock back a few years on the long-term pattern of decline,” Shepherd pronounced.
The findings, which appear in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest limiting carbon emissions could have an even greater effect on the planet than previously expected, as the Arctic appears to respond quickly to slight environmental changes.
However, Greenpeace is not persuaded (of course).
“The researchers point out their findings do not reverse the long-term decline seen in Arctic sea ice over the past decades so this research shouldn’t be taken to mean the Arctic isn’t facing a huge threat – it is,” said Elena Polisano, an Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace.
“We’re heading for a situation where the Arctic is ice-free in the summer months, and that could be devastating for its, as yet scientifically unexplored, marine ecosystem.”
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