According to Academician Mikhail Flint, the ice fringes have moved 850 km to the north in the summer season over the past 35 years.
(tass.ru) - The southern fringes of the Arctic "ice cap" in the Kara Sea has shifted 850 km to the north in the summer season over the past 35 years, which increased the temperature in the upper sea layers and enhanced the energy exchange between the water and atmosphere, said TASS on Saturday quoting Academician Mikhail Flint, the head of the Oceans Ecology Division at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology.
"The southern ice fringes in the summer season shift significantly to the north. In the Kara Sea, it now lies about 850 km to the north than in the 1980s. This is more than the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg," Flint said.
The scientist said that these changes contribute to increased warming in the upper sea layers and more intense interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, including energy exchange between the atmosphere and the water.
“If we consider climatic aspects, then huge ice expanses have become annual. This determines completely different processes of interaction between the atmosphere, ice and the ocean, other processes in the ice. The impact of this phenomenon on biological species in the open ocean is more difficult to assess; this requires the results of continuous observations over a long time," the scientist explained.
The Arctic air temperature is rising several times faster than the global average. This is the so-called polar amplification effect, which has not yet been adequately explained. Some scientists predict that the Barents Sea will be the first Arctic basin to be ice-free all year round by the middle of this century.
