The U.S. Nationwide Snow and Ice Knowledge Middle (NSIDC) reported a slowdown within the price of Antarctic sea ice loss, saying that it fell properly beneath common throughout November and December 2024.
“Antarctic sea ice loss has slowed after a prolonged period of record to near-record daily lows set in 2023 and 2024,” the NSIDC said in its Jan. 7 evaluation report.
The NSIDC stated the Antarctic sea ice loss throughout these two months, that are mid to late spring within the Southern Hemisphere, averaged 140,000 sq. kilometers (54,000 sq. miles) per day final yr, which is decrease than the typical 165,000 sq. kilometers (64,000 sq. miles) per day recorded between 1981 and 2010.
On Dec. 31, 2024, Antarctic sea ice extent measured 7.32 million sq. kilometers (2.83 million sq. miles), intently aligning with the typical sea ice extent noticed throughout the interval from 1981 to 2010, it said.
Sea ice extent contains areas with at the very least 15 % ice cowl, whereas sea ice space measures the full area lined by ice, in accordance to NSIDC.
The current slowdown in sea ice extent loss briefly ends the hypothesis that Antarctic sea ice had entered “a new regime of strongly reduced extent” pushed by oceanic influences, an concept that emerged after persistent below-average extents started in August 2016, based on the report.
“Following the 2017 and 2023 record low minimum extents, a dramatic record-low maximum extent in 2023, and near-record low maximum in 2024, the regime-shift idea took hold,” it said. “The recent slowdown in extent loss during December gives some pause to this idea.”
The report said that sea ice extent was above common within the western Weddell and Amundsen seas, barely beneath common within the Ross Sea, and close to common in different areas.
“Overall, sea ice concentrations are generally low over large areas of the pack,” it said. “This, combined with indications of a warm spring with high surface melting on the continent itself, will make for an interesting upcoming summer.”
A current examine, carried out by a gaggle of researchers led by A. N. Coonin from Brown College, discovered that melting Antarctic sea ice may set off volcanic eruptions.
The examine, revealed within the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems on Nov. 27, 2024, used hundreds of simulations to review the impact of ice soften on the interior dynamics of magma chambers beneath the Antarctic sea.
“In regions like West Antarctica, volcanic eruptions occur underneath ice sheets. When hot magma comes in contact with ice, it can accelerate the melting of the ice cover,” the researchers said. “Beyond this, as climate change causes ice sheets to shrink, the decreasing weight on a volcano may affect its likelihood of erupting.”
The researchers discovered that as ice melts, the decreased weight on the volcano causes the magma to develop, creating stress on the rocks beneath, which may probably set off eruptions.
The melting of an ice sheet above a volcano may result in “larger eruptions,” which can probably “hasten the melting of overlying ice through complex feedback mechanisms,” based on the examine.
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