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Amundsen_Science_Arctic_Expedition

The Arctic ice cover is also thinning and this thinning plays a role in the decline of Arctic sea ice extent. Sea ice is categorized by age classes: first-year ice versus multiyear ice. First-year ice forms in a single growth season and a large percentage of it melts away during the summer months. However, some survives and thickens during the next winter, becoming multiyear ice, which is categorized by having survived one melt season or more. So, older ice is generally thicker ice.

Over the past several decades, the Arctic has lost much of its multiyear ice. This is due to both melt and the export of the ice out with changing gyres and current, and it is not being replaced. Thinner first-year ice, which is more vulnerable to melting away in summer than thicker, multiyear ice, comprises a larger percentage of total ice cover than in the past.

As multiyear ice continues to decline and first-year ice makes up a larger percentage of total ice cover, it is more likely that the Arctic will become “seasonally ice free” in the future, though there is debate among scientists on when this will occur. This means there will be a period of time in late summer or early autumn when there is little to no sea ice present in the Arctic.

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© 2021 Marc-Andre Pauze - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Contained in galleries
Arctic Landscape, Annual Amundsen Expedition
The Arctic ice cover is also thinning and this thinning plays a role in the decline of Arctic sea ice extent. Sea ice is categorized by age classes: first-year ice versus multiyear ice. First-year ice forms in a single growth season and a large percentage of it melts away during the summer months. However, some survives and thickens during the next winter, becoming multiyear ice, which is categorized by having survived one melt season or more. So, older ice is generally thicker ice.<br /> <br /> Over the past several decades, the Arctic has lost much of its multiyear ice. This is due to both melt and the export of the ice out with changing gyres and current, and it is not being replaced. Thinner first-year ice, which is more vulnerable to melting away in summer than thicker, multiyear ice, comprises a larger percentage of total ice cover than in the past.<br /> <br /> As multiyear ice continues to decline and first-year ice makes up a larger percentage of total ice cover, it is more likely that the Arctic will become “seasonally ice free” in the future, though there is debate among scientists on when this will occur. This means there will be a period of time in late summer or early autumn when there is little to no sea ice present in the Arctic.