Part of the Arctic waters, which usually freeze by the end of November, were left without ice in the winter of 2010-2011. The reason is abnormally high air temperature
Experts from the National Center for Snow and Ice Research (NSIDC) (USA) have published the latest data on the state of the Arctic sea ice on their website. According to scientists, the total area of sea ice in January 2011 was the minimum since the beginning of the observation period (since 1979). The scientists made their conclusions based on the analysis of images obtained using a scanning radiometer installed on the Aqua satellite.
“In the Arctic, the ice area in January 2011 was 13.55 million km 2. This is the lowest value in the last 32 years. January 2011 broke the records of all previous years. He even broke the record of 2006, when the ice area in January was 13.60 million km 2,”the message says.
Non-freezing waters of the Arctic
The least amount of ice was observed in Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait and Davis Strait. If the water usually freezes there by the end of November, then this winter, for example, Hudson Bay by mid-January was not completely covered with ice. And the Labrador Sea was left without ice at all, although usually at this time of the year the ice is established there several hundred kilometers from the coast.
According to climatologists, the air temperature over most of the Arctic in January 2011 exceeded the average values for this time of year by 2-6 °. In particular, in the eastern part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, over the Baffin Sea, Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea, temperatures have risen 6 ° above normal.
The reason for this abnormal heat is primarily in the low Arctic Oscillation index, scientists say. During this phase, warmer and saltier waters enter the Arctic from the Atlantic Ocean, intensifying the melting of ice. On the other hand, spaces of water that are not covered with ice cause faster melting of neighboring ice, since they themselves serve as a source of heat. “At the end of January, the low phase of the Arctic Oscillation was replaced by a high one, and this situation is already favorable for cold weather and ice accumulation. However, it is not known how long such conditions will last,”NSIDC experts say.