Watching Arctic Sea-Ice

The trend of summer sea-ice retreat in the Arctic Ocean has increased every year since 1996. The average slow decrease of about 36 000 km²/year over the period 1979-1996 got bigger during the following decade (1997-2007) reaching 72 000 km²/year - it nearly doubled. With the 2012 record year, the summer sea-ice retreat trend estimation is more than 90 000 km²/year over the whole period of satellite measurements (1979-2012). Marie-Noelle Houssais, oceanographer at laboratory LOCEAN (University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France) analyses for us every six months, the evolution of arctic sea-ice floes.

By Marie-Noëlle Houssais, oceanographer, France.