With 2016 being known as the hottest year on record, no other place on Earth would feel the worsening conditions of global warming than the Arctic region. Climate scientists have recently found that a polar sea ice that covers an area which is about the size of India has just vanished. Scientists are saying that the anomalies are striking since global sea ice is now at a record low for the time of year. Director of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, Mark Serreze has revealed that the temperatures in regions of the Arctic for instance, were 36 degrees Fahrenheit above average on some days last month.
Global Warming In 2016
According to reports by CBS News, NSIDC satellite measurements has shown that on Dec. 4, the extent of polar sea ice was 1.48 million square miles below the 1981-2010 average. That amounts to about the size of India, or for another point of reference, two Alaskas. It was found that the latest measurements seemingly looks like to have reversed a trend of expanding Antarctic sea ice, which some skeptics cited to contradict evidence of climate change.
However, in one of her statements reported by the International Business Times, senior research scientist at NSIDC, Julienne Stroeve has claimed that the idea of the Arctic ice is melting is in fact, incorrect. She explains that the Arctic isn't melting at the moment because it's winter. Right now in the Arctic sea ice extent is growing. Furthermore, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, Ed Hawkins, has also agreed that the headlines are misleading.
Meanwhile, it was found that US president-elect Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump held meetings with Al Gore last Monday which was held at Trump Tower, in order to discuss the issues on climate change. Gore describes his talk with the president-elect as "very productive" and "a sincere search for areas of common ground."
Scientists on the other hand are allegedly worried that these developments could have a domino effect. They said that as sea ice melts, glaciers could potentially collapse more quickly into their surrounding waters, which, in turn, will also increase the rate of sea level rise rapidly.
