Although we've mentioned this before, it's grim news that bears repeating. Global heating caused by human industry is melting glaciers and sea ice all around the world — but nowhere more dramatically than on and near Antarctica.
Sea ice that covers the ocean around Antarctica hit a record low surface area in the winter, a preliminary analysis of US satellite data shows, and scientists fear the impact of climate change is increasing at the southern pole.
“This is the lowest sea ice maximum in the 1979 to 2023 sea ice record by a wide margin,” said the NSIDC, a government-supported programme at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
At one point this year, sea ice had dropped to 1.03 million sq km, far smaller than the previous record low and an area of loss roughly the size of Texas and California combined.
“It’s a record-smashing sea ice low in the Antarctic,” NSIDC scientist Walt Meier said in comments published by NASA.
The excerpt above is from a news story published at Al Jazeera.
Over at Medium, an article by Ricky Lanusse goes into more depth on the subject, and concludes with this heartfelt lament...
It’s been 33 years since the first IPCC report on climate change. Three-plus decades of climate negotiations and disappointment: emissions soaring, climate denial, on-paper optimism, and ‘net zero, but not in my term’ speeches.
Now, the northern summer of 2023 is officially the hottest on record, pushing global sea temperatures to record highs and disrupting ocean ecosystems. Over 3.8 billion people — almost half the world — felt the wrath of human-induced extreme heat between June and August.
You don’t grab buckets or towels when your bathtub overflows, ignoring or denying the problem. You turn off the tap. Climate change isn’t a future problem; it’s here. And you might think it won’t affect you, but as temperatures climb, more will face such dire choices. The question is not if but when.
Antarctica’s struggle isn’t a far-off concern; it’s a glaring reminder that climate change is here and spares no place on Earth.