The loss of Arctic sea ice is one of the clearest signs of human - caused climate change, and there's been nothing but blinking red alarms coming from the top of the world lately. The past four winters have seen such anemic sea ice growth that they've been the lowest four maximum sea ice extents since 1979.
At the same time, the region’s climate has seen temperatures increase at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world, with record - shattering seasons becoming more common.
During the summer, you can now take a luxury cruise ship through the Northwest Passage, and even in the winter, ice is failing to show up in places where it's normally so thick that it groans.
Now come two new studies that emphasize that unless the global community drastically lowers emissions of planet - warming greenhouse gases to keep warming to the strictest target under the Paris Climate Agreement, sea ice - free summers are going to become common during many of our lifetimes.
Both studies, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, investigated whether holding global warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius, or 2. 7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels through 2100, would make much difference for the Arctic ice pack when compared to a 2 - degree Celsius, or 3. 6 - degree Fahrenheit, temperature limit.
Source: Mashable