Current:Home > NewsAlaska’s Bering Sea Lost a Third of Its Ice in Just 8 Days-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Alaska’s Bering Sea Lost a Third of Its Ice in Just 8 Days
View Date:2024-12-23 19:52:37
Stay informed about the latest climate, energy and environmental justice news. Sign up for the ICN newsletter.
In just eight days in mid-February, nearly a third of the sea ice covering the Bering Sea off Alaska’s west coast disappeared. That kind of ice loss and the changing climate as the planet warms is affecting the lives of the people who live along the coast.
At a time when the sea ice should be growing toward its maximum extent for the year, it’s shrinking instead—the area of the Bering Sea covered by ice is now 60 percent below its average from 1981-2010.
“[Bering sea ice] is in a league by itself at this point,” said Richard Thoman, the climate science and services manager for the National Weather Service Alaska region. “And looking at the weather over the next week, this value isn’t going to go up significantly. It’s going to go down.”
In places like Saint Lawrence Island, where subsistence hunting is a way of life and where there are no land mammals to hunt, thin ice can mean the difference between feeding a family and having to worry about where the next meal will come from.
Villagers on Saint Lawrence Island who participate in an autumn whale hunt—and who rely on whale meat for survival—just got their first whale of the season in early February, Thoman said. The whaling season is usually finished by Thanksgiving, but this year, as the ice formed later than ever before, the whales did not migrate past the island like they usually do.
“They were starting to get into panic mode,” Thoman said of the island residents. “Some of these communities are reeling.”
The satellites that scientists use to monitor the sea ice look at the extent of the ice, but they don’t read the thickness of it. “The satellite says there’s ice there, but it might not be ice that people can work with,” Thoman said. “In some cases it’s not even stable enough for marine mammals to haul out on.”
The Arctic Loses Its Cool
The Arctic is often referred to as the world’s refrigerator—cool temperatures there help moderate the globe’s weather patterns. This winter, which has seen deep freezes at lower latitudes while temperatures have soared in the North, it seems like the refrigerator may have come unplugged.
The last two years were the Arctic’s warmest on record as the region continued to warm at about twice the global average. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted in its annual Arctic Report Card in December that Arctic sea ice has been declining this century at rates not seen in at least 1,500 years.
“It used to be just the summer when the ice was breaking low records, but we’re starting to see winter really get into the act now,” said Mark Serreze, the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
“Both the atmosphere and the ocean are really conspiring to keep sea ice levels down,” he said.
Another Record-Low Year?
As Arctic sea ice limps along toward its maximum extent, which it usually hits in mid-March, it appears to be on course for the fourth consecutive year of record lows.
“There’s actually now open water in the southernmost Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait,” Thoman said. The only other time on record that the Chukchi Sea has had open water this time of year was in 1989, he said.
On the Atlantic side, sea ice is also low in the Barents and Greenland seas. And in January, a tanker ship carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia became the first commercial ship to cross the Arctic’s northern sea route in winter.
With sea ice levels also low in the Antarctic, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported this month that global sea ice extent was at a record low.
“As a scientist, it’s really shocking to see some of this and try to wrap your mind around what’s happening and the pace that it’s happening,” Thoman said.
veryGood! (58)
Related
- NY forest ranger dies fighting fires as air quality warnings are issued in New York and New Jersey
- Prince Harry to attend King Charles' coronation without Meghan
- U.S. sanctions Chinese suppliers of chemicals for fentanyl production
- Hunting sunken treasure from a legendary shipwreck
- Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands
- Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak Are Officially the Sweetest BFFs at Vanity Fair's Oscar Party 2023
- Hugh Grant Compares Himself to a Scrotum During Wild 2023 Oscars Reunion With Andie MacDowell
- William Shatner boldly went into space for real. Here's what he saw
- Roy Haynes, Grammy-winning jazz drummer, dies at 99: Reports
- Their Dad Transformed Video Games In The 1970s — And Passed On His Pioneering Spirit
Ranking
- DWTS’ Sasha Farber and Jenn Tran Prove They're Closer Than Ever Amid Romance Rumors
- FBI arrests Massachusetts airman Jack Teixeira in leaked documents probe
- Oscars 2023: Ana de Armas Details Being Moved by Marilyn Monroe's Presence During Blonde
- 'Concerned Citizen' At Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' Trial Turns Out To Be Family
- Skai Jackson announces pregnancy with first child: 'My heart is so full!'
- Poland prohibits food imports from Ukraine to soothe farmers
- All Of You Will Love John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s 2023 Oscars Night Out
- White House brings together 30 nations to combat ransomware
Recommendation
-
Mississippi man charged with shooting 5 people after not being allowed into party
-
Self-driving Waymo cars gather in a San Francisco neighborhood, confusing residents
-
A cyberattack paralyzed every gas station in Iran
-
Ex-Google workers sue company, saying it betrayed 'Don't Be Evil' motto
-
Craig Melvin replacing Hoda Kotb as 'Today' show co-anchor with Savannah Guthrie
-
Emily Ratajkowski's See-Through Oscar Night Dress Is Her Riskiest Look Yet
-
Facebook rapist who escaped prison by faking death with help from guards is brought back to South Africa
-
Ancient scoreboard used during Mayan ball game discovered by archaeologists