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Related: About this forumAntarctic sea ice is declining dramatically and we don't know why
Antarctic sea ice is declining dramatically and we dont know why
ENVIRONMENT 1 July 2019
The amount of Antarctic sea ice is falling fast
Stephen Alvarez/Getty
By Adam Vaughan
Decades of expanding sea ice in Antarctica have been wiped out by three years of sudden and dramatic declines, leaving scientist puzzled as to why the region has flipped so abruptly.
A new satellite analysis reveals that between 2014 and 2017 sea ice extent in the southern hemisphere suffered unprecedented annual decreases, leaving the area covered by sea ice at its lowest point in 40 years. The declines were so big that they outstripped the losses in the fast-melting Arctic over the same period. Its very surprising. We just havent seen decreases like that in either hemisphere, says Claire Parkinson at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, who undertook the analysis.
However, researchers cautioned against pinning the changes on climate change and said it was too early to say if the shrinking is the start of a long-term trend or a blip.
More:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2208180-antarctic-sea-ice-is-declining-dramatically-and-we-dont-know-why/
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)which also affected fish, krill and other stuff down there.
The good news might be that the chart has started to tick up.
JustThinking...
(91 posts)We don't know why???
Well that's certainly irresponsible (or deliberately misleading) 'journalism'.
Jim__
(14,077 posts)It would be irresponsible to express his own opinion and ignore what the researchers said. From the OP:
And similar opinions are expressed by the researchers elsewhere in the article.
The article posits that shifts in wind patterns, the hole in the ozone, and el Nino effects are the probable DIRECT causes of the sea-ice decline.
I wonder what might be directly effecting those mechanisms?
Javaman
(62,530 posts)oh for fuck sakes.