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.
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 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 2.35 m in 1982 to 1.13 m in 2020. Arctic sea ice volume has been decreasing at the rate of -467.7 km3 per year, resulting in about a 63% reduction in volume, from 27590.4 km3 in 1982 to 10305.5 km3 in 2020. These trends are further examined from a new perspective, where the Arctic Ocean is classified into open water, 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 in extent, concentration, and thickness continue, the Arctic is expected to have ice-free summer by the early 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.
Commenter: Xuanji Wang
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author