Walruses use sea ice for mating, giving birth, and resting, which means they face an increasing threat from global warming.
As the Arctic has warmed over the past three decades, satellites reveal it has also grown greener overall. But in recent years, the tundra appears to be “browning down.”
The melt season was up to 30 to 40 days longer than average in western, northwestern, and northeastern Greenland, but was close to or below average elsewhere on the ice sheet. Melt area was above average on 52 of the 90 days of the melt season.
Not only are there now bigger fish to fry in the Arctic's Barents Sea, but scientists predict the natural marine ecosystem will undergo a transformation.
In northern Alaska, ponds are shrinking and disappearing as the frozen ground beneath them thaws. The loss may have serious consequences for migratory birds and the subsistence hunters that depend on them.
Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.61 million square miles on February 25, and then began to retreat. Unless a late growth spurt takes place, it will be the smallest winter maximum in the satellite record.
NASA ice expert Claire Parkinson confirms that global sea ice coverage has continued its overall downward trend since her original analysis was published in 2015.
The Arctic's oldest ice is vanishing
December 13, 2016
The annual minimum was 5.02 million square kilometers (1.94 million square miles), making 2014 the sixth smallest extent in the satellite era, which began in 1979.
Arctic sea ice extent shrunk down to 2.0 million square miles (5.1 million square kilometers) in September 2013—18 percent below the 1981-2010 average, but larger than record low set in 2012.