Arctic Sea Ice

Images of the shrinking area of Arctic sea ice are now familiar, at least to polar connoisseurs. What’s been happening under the surface is much less well known—but illustrated here. Due to warmer air and warmer water, the ice has been getting thinner, generally faster than its area has been decreasing. We know about the thinning from old submarine sonar readings recently declassified by the US Navy.


Kwok, Ron and Rothrock, A., “Decline in Arctic sea ice thickness from submarine and ICESat records: 1958-2008,” Geophysical Research Letters 36, L15501 (2009)