Before you read on , a few things to note . No , this research is not “ proof ” that global thaw is n’t materialise . It ’s not validation that humans are n’t damage the environment by pumping out greenhouse gases . And it certainly is n’t proof that thing are n’t as bad as we thought they would be .
No , what this latest research issue inNature Geoscienceshows is that Arctic ocean ice is far more susceptible to changes in seasonal temperature than we thought – and the overall tendency is still that sea water ice is lessen , possibly already to thepoint of no counter .
The report by University College London ( UCL ) and the University of Leeds used data from the European Space Agency ’s ( ESA)CryoSat-2satellite to study Arctic sea ice heaviness . They plant that an unco cool summer in 2013 allowed it to increase by a remarkable 41 % on the same geological period the year before . During 2010 to 2012 , there was a 14 % step-down in the volume of summer Arctic ocean crank .
“ This work was the first to look at sea deoxyephedrine heaviness across the whole Northern Hemisphere , ” lead writer on the study and PhD student Rachel Tilling from UCL told IFLScience . The resilience was not an expected result , and the cause of the cooler summertime in 2013 is not entirely understood . However , Tilling noted that this increase only “ meander the clock back ” a few years , and the “ long term style in Arctic ocean water ice volume is downwards . ”
Temperature trends in the Arctic in the last 30 to 40 years cover to go up , and the sea ice volume proceed to go down . “ So those two do appear to be correlated , which is something we ’ve found in this paper , ” said Tilling .
CryoSat-2 , creative person ’s mental picture shown , will rest in military operation until 2017 . ESA / P. Carril .
While former research has show that Arctic sea ice extent has declined byabout 40%since the seventies , it has been more difficult to measure volume , something done by this study . But while the chicken feed volume increased in 2013 , the results highlight how easily it can be transfer .
As summertime get warmer in the futurity , it is potential to lead to more and more sea deoxyephedrine thawing . This study also indicates that ocean ice is more affect by summertime warming than wintertime chilling .
“ understand what controls the amount of Arctic sea ice takes us one step nigher to pull in reliable foretelling of how long it will last , which is of import because it is a key component of Earth ’s mood organisation , ” co - author Professor Andy Shepherd of UCL and the University of Leeds say in astatement .
“ Although the jump in volume means that the area is improbable to be icing free this summer , we still expect temperature to come up in the future tense , and so the events of 2013 will have simply wound the clock back a few yr on the long - term shape of decline . "
The CryoSat-2 mission is due to remnant in 2017 , and there is currently no successor planned . This have in mind that it will be difficult to work out if this increase was an unusual occurrence , or something that occurs on a regular basis . " Our goal is to check that we do not recede this unique capability to monitor Arctic sea ice when the [ CryoSat-2 ] delegation end , ” added Shepherd .
Data from the satellite ’s delegacy will still be useful in predicting future clime change . But scientists will be bang-up to forge out just how live ocean trash can be to warming global temperature .
