NASA images confirm Arctic Ocean sea ice is thinning at alarming rate

A team of University of Washington and University of London researchers have reportedly obtained enough data to confirm Arctic Ocean sea ice really is thinning.

The team, using data collected by NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite, say Arctic sea ice volume declined 36 percent in the autumn and 9 percent in the winter over the last decade. The figures, which build on previous studies, match predictions made by models that show sea ice thinning over the coming decade.

The report, published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, provides a 34-year monthly picture of the Arctic. Researchers reportedly developed the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) in an attempt to combine weather records, sea-surface temperature, and satellite images in order to determine the total volume of sea ice. The program checked its readings against a database of actual sea ice volume measurements collected by researchers over the years. According to the report, the figures were largely accurate.