Northeast Passage Open W. Ice Coverage At Sept. Levels; Much Of Remaining Ice Like Swiss Cheese
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"What we're seeing over Greenland now is really just part of this much bigger picture of a very warm melting summer in the Arctic," Serreze said.
He said the sea ice across much of the Arctic is in a "sorry state" - thinning, with Swiss-cheese-like holes that can be seen in high-resolution satellite images.
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Right now, Serreze said, Arctic sea ice is at the extreme low end of the satellite record for this time of year, and on track to be similar to 2007, when Arctic ice shrank to its smallest size in the satellite record and probably the smallest size in hundreds of years. Satellites started monitoring the Arctic in 1979; ship and aerial observation before that provides an accurate record for the last 60 years or so. To check on ice cover before that, scientists examine ice cores and other evidence.
The so-called Northwest Passage, a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific that winds through the Arctic, first opened up in 2007. Serreze would not speculate about whether this route will be open this year, saying it would depend on wind and currents in the region. He said ice cover in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast is near normal. However, the passage eastward from the North Atlantic to the Pacific shows open water as far north as it would normally be during September, typically the month when Arctic sea ice hits its low ebb.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/arctic-ice-melt-idUSL2E8IPHFR20120725
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