Satellite observations by NASA show sea ice in the Arctic has reached an annual low
The sea ice receded to an area of 1.94 million square miles on September 17th 2014
making it the sixth lowest extent on record
Arctic Sea ice basically acts as a big air conditioner for the planet
When the sun shines down on it, most of the energy is reflected away
So it helps to keep the planet cool
Since 1979, we’ve been monitoring the extent of sea ice with satellites
and at the present time we’ve lost an area equivalent about a third of the United States
It goes up and down every year
but the long-term trend is that we’ve been losing a lot of sea ice
In large part, what’s been causing the decrease has been heat
The Arctic has been warming up
Especially in the last 10 years
The temperatures in the Arctic have risen about two to three times the global average
So increases in the global temperature have been
decreasing the thickness and extent of Arctic Sea ice
The total volume of sea ice at the end of the summer melt season in 2013
is about two thirds less compared to 1979
The lost of Arctic Sea ice thickness makes it less resilient
If It’s just not as thick, what happens is that it melts faster
and because of this, it just doesn’t stay around as long in the summer
It’s important that we’re looking at Arctic Sea ice because of the large impact that it has on our climate
It’s basically one of the most significant symbols of a changing planet