Science Source

New observations of Arctic sea ice from satellite radar altimetry

States that satellite observations of Arctic sea ice have observed a decline in extent for all months since 1979 and that the decline is coincident with abrupt global and Arctic warming over the last 30 years; during this time, the mean Arctic temperature has increased at almost twice the global average rate – a phenomena known as Arctic amplification
States it has previously been difficult to quantify trends in sea ice volume because detailed thickness observations have been lacking
States that the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) CryoSat-2 satellite was launched in April 2010 and now provides unparalleled coverage of the Arctic Ocean up to 88°N
Observes a 14% reduction in sea ice volume between autumn 2010 and 2012, in keeping with the long-term decline in extent
Observes 33% and 25% more ice in autumn 2013 and 2014, respectively, relative to the 2010–2012 seasonal mean, which offset earlier losses
Finds that the increase was caused by the retention of thick sea ice northwest of Greenland during 2013 which, in turn, was associated with a 5% drop in the number of days on which melting occurred
The sharp increase in sea ice volume after just one cool summer demonstrates the ability of Arctic sea ice to respond rapidly to a changing environment
Finds that the near real time (NRT) dataset provides a measurement within 14, 7 and 6 km of each location in the Arctic every 2, 14 and 28 days respectively