Scientists have called the “particularly worrying” news, because ice reflects the sunlight and cools the planet.
Photo Arctic: Shutterstock
The global marine ice has decreased to a minimum record in February, scientists said, a symptom of an atmosphere contaminated by the pollutants who heat the planet.
The combined surface of ice around the northern and southern poles reached a new daily minimum at the beginning of February and remained under the previous record for the rest of the month, the EU Copernicus Service (C3S) said on Thursday, according to theguardian.com.
“One of the consequences of a warmer world is the melting of marine ice”, said the deputy director of C3S, Samantha Burgess. “Low record or almost record level of the marine ice layer at both poles pushed the global marine layer to a historical minimum.”
The agency found that the marine ice area has reached the lowest monthly level for February in Arctica, 8% below average, and the fourth lowest monthly level for February in Antarctica, with 26% below average. Satellite observations date from the late 1970s, and historical observations from the middle of the 20th century.
Scientists have already noticed an extreme heat anomaly at the North Pole at the beginning of February, which caused the temperatures to rise by over 20 degrees Celsius above average and exceed the ice melting threshold. They described the last record overcome as “particularly worrying“Because the ice reflects the sunlight and cools the planet.
“The lack of marine ice means darker ocean surfaces and the ability of the earth to absorb more solar light, which accelerates heating,” said Mika Rantanen, a climatologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The strong heating event in the winter in the Arctic in early February prevented the normal growth of the sea ice, he added. “I think this meteorological event, combined with the long -term decline of the marine ice due to anthropogenic climatic changes, was the main cause of the lowest stretch of the Arctic Marine ice. ”
The global stretch of marine ice varies throughout the year, but usually reaches the annual minimum in February, when it is summer in the southern hemisphere.
C3s said that February 2025 was the third hottest February he saw. Global temperatures were 1.59 ° C higher than pre-industrial levels, this being the 19th month of the last 20 which exceeded by over 1.5 ° C the pre-industrial levels.
Earth observation programs such as C3S are based on the re -analysis of billions of measurements performed by satellites, ships, planes and weather stations to create instantaneous state of the climate. The agency warned that margins over 1.5C were small in several months and could differ slightly in other data sets.
The record of the marine ice comes after last year was confirmed as the hottest year registered, and a C3S data analysis performed by Guardian showed that two -thirds of the planet’s surface were affected by a record monthly heat in 2024. The El Niño meteorological model from the first half of the year was added to the fuel effect, the sun.
El Niño has since diminished since then and turned into a weak form of his colder counterpart, La Niña. The World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday that it is expected to be short -lived in December.
Richard Allan, a climatologist at the University of Reading, said the long -term forecast for the naval ice in the Arctic is bleak.
“The region continues to warm up quickly and can only be saved by rapid and massive greenhouse gas emissions ”, he said. “This will also limit the increasing severity of the meteorological extremes and the long -term increase in sea level throughout the world. ”
