2016 has been a record - breaking yr in term of global thawing , from thehottest monthever to thehottest full yearon record . Arctic ocean levels have also been breaking a few of their own records , with March hit arecord small of maximum ocean ice extentand May know rapid ice meltseveral weeksahead of agenda .
The good news is by June the speedy ice thaw had slow down , thus terminate the platter - smashing bun of the first one-half of the year . The bad news is that even though this summertime may not damp any raw records , what would have been consider an alarmingly extreme rate of global warming just 10 years ago is , according to NASA , the “ raw normal ” , and accepting that is very sobering .
“ Even when it ’s probable that we wo n’t have a book low gear , the ocean ice is not show any kind of recovery . It ’s still in a continued decline over the long term , ” tell Walt Meier , a ocean meth scientist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center in astatement .
“ A decade ago , this year ’s sea ice extent would have set a new disk low and by a honest amount . Now , we ’re kind of used to these small levels of ocean ice – it ’s the unexampled normal , ” Meier added .
Having accepted this , scientist at NASA are now looking for a way to effective beat and tag the shifting Arctic sea levels by preparing a raw method for measure the thickness of the ocean ice – a good indication of how fast it ’s melting – from distance .
Research ships and submarines are currently used to cross the heaviness flat , but a far more accurate and effective method would be to practice satellites that can take version using radio detection and ranging , much like those already being used to supervise sea temperature . Unfortunately , something is getting in the mode of the radiolocation being capable to read the sea methamphetamine hydrochloride thickness : salt in the water of the melting ice .
In reaction , scientists lead by Thorsten Markus , chief of Goddard ’s cryosphere lab , are plunge the Ice , Cloud and nation Elevation Satellite-2 ( ICESat-2 ) , which will practice lasers to get a more complete picture of the Arctic sea ice .
Scheduled to found in 2018 , ICESat-2 will use a optical maser altimeter to measure the heights of Earth ’s surface , where it will measure the elevation of the internal-combustion engine floes in the Arctic , liken to the pee level . Taking into consideration only one - tenth of sea ice is above water , NASA can then calculate the thickness of the ice from the aloofness measure by the planet .
From this , we may not be capable to contain the rising sea levels in the Arctic from being the “ new normal ” , but we will have a good understanding of what to expect and how to deal out with it .
" If we want to gauge mass changes of sea ice , or increased thaw , we need the sea ice heaviness , " Markus explained . " It ’s critically of import to sympathize the change in the Arctic . "
NASA Goddard ’s Scientific Visualization Studio / Cindy Starr
