Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.c33b1266r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #C33B-1266
Physics
0473 Paleoclimatology And Paleoceanography (3344, 4900), 0750 Sea Ice (4540), 1605 Abrupt/Rapid Climate Change (4901, 8408), 1616 Climate Variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513), 1620 Climate Dynamics (0429, 3309)
Scientific paper
The reduction in sea ice extent and area that has taken place during the past few decades in the Russian Arctic, more rapid than anywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere, is one of the most striking environmental changes that have occurred on our planet. Using sea ice concentration data obtained from satellite passive microwave imagery we determine the monthly averaged position of the sea ice edge, the values of the sea ice extent and area for the White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering Seas, and investigate how they have changed between 1979 and 2006. The rate of change in sea ice extent and area are almost always negative, null or approximately null. Very large reductions in ice extent occurred in the White Sea in June, July and October, in the Barents Sea in July, in the Laptev Sea in August, in the East Siberian Sea in September, and in the Chukchi Sea in September and October. Exceptions were the Barents Sea in September and the Bering Sea in December, January, February and June, where a significant increase in ice extent was observed. From the daily sea ice concentrations obtained from SSM/I devices on board NASA satellites, we derive the length of the ice-free season in specific points, mostly along the Northern Sea Route, and find how this quantity has evolved throughout the 1979-2006 period. We found that there was a considerable increase in the length of the ice-free season almost everywhere in the Russian Arctic. In the White, East Siberian and Chukchi Seas there are remarkable differences between the current figures and those of the late 1970s. A reduction was observed in some parts of the Bering Sea. This apparently long term decline in the amount of sea ice in the Russian Arctic opens new opportunities for the Northern Sea Route, which in the coming decades may become a real alternative to more conventional routes that connect the Atlantic and the Pacific.
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