(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The ice covering the Arctic Ocean has been considerably thinner this summer than it has been on average. This is the fourth year in a row that ice is thinner than average, reports Nunatsiaq News, which is published in Nunavut, northeastern Canada.
There is also less sea ice in the winter and the ice begins to melt considerably earlier in the spring. This shows data that the NASA Snow and Ice Center in Washington has compiled with the University of Washington.
It is common for sea ice to be at its thinnest in September, after the summer heat has caused it to melt for several months. What scientists have discovered this year is that not since 1978, when measurements began, has sea ice been as thin as this year.
Reports along the Greenlandic and Canadian coast from fishermen and fishermen indicate that the ice did not return to normal time last winter. Usually, during the cold winter months, the sea ice returns, but the US survey confirms what eyewitnesses say along the coast, the sea ice came much later than usual.
When the ice melt comes earlier in the spring, it means the ice is not recovering. Since 2002, satellite measurements have shown that ice melts earlier in the areas north of Alaska and Siberia. This year, the ice melt started 17 days earlier than usual throughout the Arctic.
