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Editor's Highlight
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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 34,
L24501,
doi:10.1029/2007GL032043,
2007
A younger, thinner Arctic ice cover: Increased potential for rapid, extensive sea-ice loss
J. A. Maslanik
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
C. Fowler
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. Stroeve
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
S. Drobot
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. Zwally
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
D. Yi
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
W. Emery
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Abstract
Satellite-derived estimates of sea-ice age and thickness are combined to produce a proxy ice thickness record for 1982 to
the present. These data show that in addition to the well-documented loss of perennial ice cover as a whole, the amount of
oldest and thickest ice within the remaining multiyear ice pack has declined significantly. The oldest ice types have essentially
disappeared, and 58% of the multiyear ice now consists of relatively young 2- and 3-year-old ice compared to 35% in the mid-1980s.
Ice coverage in summer 2007 reached a record minimum, with ice extent declining by 42% compared to conditions in the 1980s.
The much-reduced extent of the oldest and thickest ice, in combination with other factors such as ice transport that assist
the ice-albedo feedback by exposing more open water, help explain this large and abrupt ice loss.
Received 14
September
2007;
accepted 8
November
2007;
published 22
December
2007.
Keywords: ice, arctic, change.
Index Terms: 0750 Cryosphere: Sea ice (4540); 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 1605 Global Change: Abrupt/rapid climate change (4901, 8408); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change; 1635 Global Change: Oceans (1616, 3305, 4215, 4513).
Read Full Article (file size: 526563 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Maslanik, J. A., C. Fowler, J. Stroeve, S. Drobot, J. Zwally, D. Yi, and W. Emery
(2007),
A younger, thinner Arctic ice cover: Increased potential for rapid, extensive sea-ice loss,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
34,
L24501,
doi:10.1029/2007GL032043.
Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
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