Antarctica had record melting in February – 08/03/2023 – Environment

Sea ice in Antarctica recorded a record drop in February for the second consecutive year, the European climate observatory Copernicus said.

The area of ​​ocean ice around the Antarctic continent had a surface area of ​​2.09 million square kilometers on February 16, the lowest level since measurement began in 1978, the Copernicus observatory told the AFP agency.

Another key indicator, Antarctica’s “daily ice extent”, “also reached an all-time low, surpassing the previous record of February 2022”, the monitoring service said.

The National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC) of the United States had already warned last month of the reduction in the mass of ice, but announced a smaller surface of 1.79 million km^two.

The Copernicus service attributed the data divergence to “different algorithms” for measuring the area.

According to Copernicus data, the Antarctic sea ice area in February this year was 34% below average, thus beating the February 2017 monthly record.

This is the eighth consecutive year in which the phenomenon of advancing melting occurs, surpassing the recorded historical average.

The extent of ice over the ocean at the south pole decreases and is cyclically replenished each year, with variations each season, but the reduction detected by European and American monitoring services has become more intense.

The reduction in sea ice represents a rise in sea level, because it is salt water that was simply frozen.

But, when thawing, this barrier reveals the great frozen continental mass, which suffers the effects of the ocean. This ice is freshwater and, if it thaws, it could cause a catastrophe.

Sea ice plays another important role, the so-called albedo effect, the amount of solar radiation that a given surface reflects back into the atmosphere. As it melts, it is replaced by the ocean’s dark mass, which absorbs more light, which contributes to climate change.