The ice in the Arctic has been dipping into new lows.
By Rakesh Agrawal
It’s not just India that had a very hot summer with temperature crossed 50 degree Celsius in many parts of the country, but even the frozen continent as melting in the Arctic reached an all-time high in June where ice disappeared at a rate of 29,000 square miles a day in June. The Arctic sea ice in June 2016 was just 4.09 million square miles on an average that was 100,000 square miles lower than the earlier low.
In fact, the ice in the Arctic has been dipping into new lows since the beginning of 2016 and except March, it was low every month this year, reaching to its lowest last month and last month was no different, when it disappeared at an average rate of 29,000 square miles (74,000 square km) a day.
The US-based National Snow and Ice Data Center monitored the extent of the Arctic ice, using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Nasa Aqua and Terra satellites, providing multiple views each day of the Arctic, and in summer the entire region is sunlit.
‘The slow ice loss during early June was a result of a significant change in the atmospheric circulation,’ the report said.
It compared the two images; first taken on June 9, left, and June 28. They, show the seasonal progression in surface melting and darkening of the sea ice. It establishes the fact that the ice in the Arctic is melting at an alarming rate, has been dipping into new lows almost every month this year, and last month was no different. (See:
It also meant that Atmospheric CO2 Reaches New High, causing more climate change.
Heat has gripped even the United States where the temperature crossed 95 °F (34 °C) and Phoenix and Las Vegas were as consistently getting remarkably hot weather.
Clearly, humankind must learn to live with the Sahara type of climate, even in the ice zone and if we don’t take any corrective measures today, tomorrow we cannot go to a cooler clime as no such place would be left on our earth!