The cause? According to a study by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, it has been a notable storm series occurred between the months of September to November 2016.
These phenomena brought hot air and strong winds that, combined, melted neither more nor less than 75.000 square kilometers of sea ice per day, which would be equivalent to losing a piece of ice the size of Panama every 24 hours.
It is the most dramatic decline that has been seen since records began in 1978. It should be noted that the sea iceAs explained by John Turner, a climate scientist at BAS and lead author of the study, too skinny, a meter thick on average. This makes it very vulnerable to strong winds.
Can this phenomenon be attributed to climate change? The reality is, no. It's true that scientists use sea ice as an indicator of changes in the climate, and in fact, according to Turner, whaling records provide scientists with clues to the extent of sea ice. past from Antarctica, but it is difficult to compare these data with satellite records. In addition, it highlights that the Antarctic climate is incredibly variable.
Image - NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
What they are sure of is that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase more and stronger storms are likely in mid-latitudes. However, at the moment it cannot be assured that the storms of late 2016 are due to human activity.
Until then, the area of Antarctic sea ice increased considerably, which is very curious to scientists, who want to find out why the ice grew if the global average temperature is increasing. Perhaps this growth is one more characteristic of climate change.