15 percent

In March 1985, sea ice more than four years old comprised 33 percent of the Arctic Ocean ice pack. In March 2020, equally old ice comprised just 4.4 percent of the ice pack. Read more in the Arctic Report Card: Update for 2020. Explore this interactive graph: Click and drag to display different parts of the graph.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world’s five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km2 (5,430,000 sq mi) and is also known as the coldest of all the oceans….Exclusive economic zone.

A new analysis, using global climate models, predicts that most of the Arctic Ocean could become ice-free during summer by 2050. In a recent study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, scientists from 21 research institutes simulated the evolution of Arctic sea-ice using 40 different global climate models.

Arctic will see ice-free summers by 2050 as globe warms, study says. Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer, then refreezes each winter. Sea ice affects Arctic communities and wildlife such as polar bears and walruses.

But as the climate warms, the Arctic loses more ice than it gains back. August 2020: Following intense summer heat, Arctic sea ice melts to its second-lowest extent on record, nearly reaching 2012 levels. Even if we stop all greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, Arctic sea ice will continue melting for decades.

Following the summer low, scientists would expect the sea ice to bounce back to normal during the following winter. “In the past, less ice in the summer would mean more of the ocean would be exposed to the air once winter came, and the ice would grow rapidly and recover to normal pretty quickly,” Meier said.

While years of analysis of the data lay ahead, Rex said researchers are already alarmed by the evidence they’ve gathered. “The ice is dying,” Rex said. “If we keep going as we are then the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within a few decades and the world I just described will no longer exist.”

Three main interrelated issues regarding the Arctic environment are climate change, changes in biological diversity, and the accumulation of toxic substances. The effects of these changes are becoming increasingly evident in the North.

The disappearing ice in the Arctic affects more than just the surrounding area. As the Arctic’s ice disappears, the rest of the world experiences global warming. “If all the ice covering Antarctica , Greenland, and in mountain glaciers around the world were to melt, sea level would rise about 70 meters (230 feet).

However, all the ice is not going to melt. The Antarctic ice cap, where most of the ice exists, has survived much warmer times. The concern is that portions of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice caps may disappear.

At least five major ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history: the earliest was over 2 billion years ago, and the most recent one began approximately 3 million years ago and continues today (yes, we live in an ice age!). Currently, we are in a warm interglacial that began about 11,000 years ago.

In 2019, a study projected that in low emission scenario, sea level will rise 30 centimeters by 2050 and 69 centimetres by 2100, relative to the level in 2000. In high emission scenario, it will be 34 cm by 2050 and 111 cm by 2100.