Climate change and warm winds have caused some of the oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic to break apart, The Guardian reported Tuesday, calling into question just how long the region's "last ice area" will withstand ever-rising temperatures.
In the sea off the north coast of Greenland, sea ice is frozen so thick that scientists thought it would be the last area in the North to melt away as climate change pushes temperatures higher and higher. But the region has endured unprecedented heat this summer, hitting a record high of 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit just last week. Warm winds left the ice "quite shattered and broken up and therefore more mobile," Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute explained, which has pushed the ice farther away from the coast than ever before.
When the sea ice blows around, it can be swept away into warmer waters where it melts for good, said Thomas Lavergne of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. "I cannot tell how long this open water patch will remain open, but even if it closes in few days from now, the harm will be done," he said. "The thick old sea ice will have been pushed away from the coast, to an area where it will melt more easily."
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Scientists said that some of the ice will freeze again, but likely later in the winter than usual. While this gap in the Arctic sea ice is not the first one to form, the alarming temperatures and significant size of this gap in the "last ice area" have experts calling the most recent break "scary." Read more at The Guardian.
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