Sea Ice Around Antarctica Declines in 2015 Peak
The sea ice around Antarctica grew to its annual peak on Oct. 6 but showed a sharp decline from the record coverage of recent years.
NASA says this year’s maximum fell roughly in the middle of what has been measured during the past 37 years of satellite observations.
Scientists said the developing El Niño probably had a strong influence on this year’s sea ice.
Rather than being in sharp contradiction to a warming climate, a greater amount of ice ringing Antarctica in the recent past has been linked to climate change.
Stronger southern hemisphere winds due to a warmer climate appear to have caused the floating ice to bunch up around Antarctica rather than drifting northward and melting.
“After three record high extent years, this year marks a return toward normalcy for Antarctic sea ice,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at Goddard.
“There may be more high years in the future because of the large year-to-year variation in Antarctic extent, but such extremes are not near as substantial as in the Arctic, where the declining trend towards a new normal is continuing,” Meier added.
Satellite data composite of Antarctic sea ice maximum on October 6, 2015.
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