Dr. Susan Crockford
Not even three weeks after the yearly minimal of sea ice extent was reached this 12 months, new shorefast ice is already forming off the coast of Siberia, which is important fall searching habitat for polar bears.
So, not solely was this 12 months’s sea ice extent for September on the very lowest excessive of predicted ranges for late summer season, given ever-increasing CO2 concentrations within the ambiance, new ice appears to be forming earlier within the fall as properly, which bodes properly for winter ice formation. It’s seeking to me just like the decade-long rising pattern of September ice extent since 2012 (see beneath) could point out a change extra biologically related to ice-dependent Arctic animals than the zero pattern since 2007.
Shorefast ice throughout the Arctic
Just about in all places within the peripheral seas of the Arctic Ocean (Barents, Kara, Laptev, Chukchi, Beaufort, in addition to Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, shorefast ice thick sufficient to help a polar bear kinds earlier than the cell ice pack within the central Arctic expands to the shores of the peripheral seas (beneath). The Laptev Sea is usually the primary to expertise this new shorefast ice formation due to the bitterly chilly winds that blow north from Siberia.
As I’ve defined intimately beforehand, this new ice formation creates nutrient-rich upwelling, which attracts fish to feed on the planktonic organisms that proliferate on the floor; like clock-work, seals arrive to feed on these fish and people seals present a predictable meals supply for polar bears which have spent the summer season fasting onshore.
Sea ice alongside Laptev Coastline
New sea ice formation at 5 October, choose years since 2006 (beneath), courtesy NISDC MASIE, reveals new ice forming in 2022, 2021, and 2017 however not in earlier years (just a few proven for brevity):
