Satellite image of the ice pack on the Atlantic side of the Arctic shows the entire Kara Sea east of Novaya Zemlya to be ice-free, writes Barents Observer.
While much of Europe shivers under a severe cold snap that has caused hundreds of deaths, the story is different in the high Arctic. While the retreat of the Arctic ice in spring and fall has been widely noted by climate change experts, February has always been regarded as a safe month for Arctic ice, as the sun is under the horizon. Until this year.
A climate blogger writing forClimate Progress has posted this series of satellite images of Arctic sea ice taken over the last nine years. Looking at the image on February 11th 2012, no sea ice is observable in the Kara Sea even north of Novaya Zemlya. The only ice plug on the images is at the Kara Gate. The Barents Sea is thus ice-free up till 76 to 78 North between Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, writes Barents Observer. Also, the areas west of Spitsbergen on Svalbard are ice-free.
The Climate Progress blogger argue that the retreat of sea ice cover has started in 2012 some two months earlier than normal. According to the blogger, this is due to the last weeks high-pressure system over northern Russia. While sweeping the cold towards Europe, the high-pressure has drawn in warms winds with warm air from the west and pushed ice north in the Barents- and Kara Seas.
Satellite image of the ice pack on the Atlantic side of the Arctic shows the entire Kara Sea east of Novaya Zemlya to be ice-free, writes Barents Observer.
While much of Europe shivers under a severe cold snap that has caused hundreds of deaths, the story is different in the high Arctic. While the retreat of the Arctic ice in spring and fall has been widely noted by climate change experts, February has always been regarded as a safe month for Arctic ice, as the sun is under the horizon. Until this year.
A climate blogger writing forClimate Progress has posted this series of satellite images of Arctic sea ice taken over the last nine years. Looking at the image on February 11th 2012, no sea ice is observable in the Kara Sea even north of Novaya Zemlya. The only ice plug on the images is at the Kara Gate. The Barents Sea is thus ice-free up till 76 to 78 North between Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, writes Barents Observer. Also, the areas west of Spitsbergen on Svalbard are ice-free.
The Climate Progress blogger argue that the retreat of sea ice cover has started in 2012 some two months earlier than normal. According to the blogger, this is due to the last weeks high-pressure system over northern Russia. While sweeping the cold towards Europe, the high-pressure has drawn in warms winds with warm air from the west and pushed ice north in the Barents- and Kara Seas.