Version 1
: Received: 27 February 2022 / Approved: 1 March 2022 / Online: 1 March 2022 (04:32:25 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 26 March 2022 / Approved: 28 March 2022 / Online: 28 March 2022 (04:13:23 CEST)
Wang, X.; Liu, Y.; Key, J.R.; Dworak, R. A New Perspective on Four Decades of Changes in Arctic Sea Ice from Satellite Observations. Remote Sens.2022, 14, 1846.
Wang, X.; Liu, Y.; Key, J.R.; Dworak, R. A New Perspective on Four Decades of Changes in Arctic Sea Ice from Satellite Observations. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 1846.
Cite as:
Wang, X.; Liu, Y.; Key, J.R.; Dworak, R. A New Perspective on Four Decades of Changes in Arctic Sea Ice from Satellite Observations. Remote Sens.2022, 14, 1846.
Wang, X.; Liu, Y.; Key, J.R.; Dworak, R. A New Perspective on Four Decades of Changes in Arctic Sea Ice from Satellite Observations. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 1846.
Abstract
Arctic sea ice characteristics have been changing rapidly and significantly in the last few decades. Using a long-term time series of sea ice products from satellite observations - the extended AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APP-x), trends in sea ice concentration, ice extent, ice thickness, and ice volume in the Arctic from 1982 to 2020 are investigated. Results show that the Arctic has warmed and become less ice covered in all seasons, especially in summer and autumn. Arctic sea ice thickness has been decreasing at the rate of -3.24 cm per year, resulting in about a 52% reduction in thickness from 1982 to 2020. Arctic sea ice volume has been decreasing at the rate of -467.7 km3 per year, resulting in a volume of 10305.5 km3 in 2020 compared to 27590.4 km3 in 1982. These trends are further examined from a new perspective. The Arctic Ocean is classified into open water, and perennial and seasonal sea ice-covered areas based on the sea ice persistence. The loss of the perennial sea ice covered area is the major factor in the total sea ice loss in all seasons. If the current rates of sea ice changes continue, the Arctic is expected to have ice-free summers by the mid-2060s.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
