Jun 27, 2017
Increasing Transnational Sea Ice Exchange in a Changing Arctic Ocean
by
,
Earth's Future
- States that most ice melts locally: only about 21% is exported from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in which it is formed; however, that export amounts to about 1,000,000 km2 each year
- States that as ice cover has thinned and the summer sea ice has retreated in a warming Arctic:
- Formation and melt locations have moved further north
- Ice drifts have accelerated
- Area of ice formation and melt has increased
- Uses data from satellite images to examine ice formation and transport between the EEZs of the Arctic nations, and broke the record into two periods: 1988–1999 and 2000–2014
- Finds that as the Arctic warms, more ice is transported between EEZs and it is arriving at the receiving EEZ faster, than in the past
- Results show that exchanges of ice have increased as a consequence