Sharp decrease in Arctic ice
Over the last month the layers of Arctic ice have decreased rapidly, leaving the Northwest Passage ice-free for the second year in a row, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reports.
Arctic sea ice extent on August 10 was 6.54 million square kilometers, a decline of 1 million square kilometers since the beginning of the month, the research centre confirms.
The Arctic ice melt radically picked pace in early August. The decline rate surged to -113,000 square km per day on August 7. Normally, the peak decline rate is in early July, the researchers say.
The development has been spurred by a series of storms north of Alaska and Siberia in late July and early August. These have helped break up the thin ice and brought warm southerly winds into the region.
Photo: BarentsObserver/Amund Beitnes
