A photo from open sources
While ice in the Arctic is melting rapidly, Antarctica is beating other records – here the area of ice cover reached unprecedented values, writes the Daily Mail. At the end of winter in the southern hemisphere scientists recorded 7.5 million square kilometers of ice – which is absolute maximum since the beginning of satellite observations in 1979. Scientists estimated that over the past 30 years the volume of Antarctic marine ice has increased, on average, by 1% for every decade. “Global warming can have complex and sometimes unexpected effects. Unlike the Arctic, representing the ocean surrounded by land, Antarctica – an isolated continent. In the Arctic, the amount sea ice depends on the temperature of the sea and the air around it, and in the Antarctic – from the wind, “experts say. Strong cold winds caused by reduced atmospheric ozone concentration over South Pole, create a “barrier” that keeps low temperatures in Antarctica, while the rest of the planet is heating up. But still an increase in Antarctic sea ice is not comparable to a decrease ice sheet at the North Pole. Now the area of the Arctic, covered with sea ice, is 4.10 million square meters. kilometers. For comparison: in September 2007, this figure was 4.17 million square meters. kilometers. It is noted that over the past three decades, the level ice in the Arctic decreased by 13%, and not only decreases area of ice cover – ice thickness is also reduced. Irina Shuvalova
Antarctica Arctic Time
