As global warming contributes to the extreme changes in various global ecosystems, a drastic change is seen in the amount of Antarctic sea ice. The ice is expanding, and has reached the largest square kilometer area since record began in 1979, as Arctic ice continues to melt rapidly. The Daily Mail reports on the research:
The new Antarctic sea ice record reflects the diversity and complexity of Earth's environments, said NASA researchers.
Claire Parkinson, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, has referred to changes in sea ice coverage as a microcosm of global climate change.
Just as the temperatures in some regions of the planet are colder than average, even in our warming world, Antarctic sea ice has been increasing and bucking the overall trend of ice loss.
'The planet as a whole is doing what was expected in terms of warming.
'Sea ice as a whole is decreasing as expected, but just like with global warming, not every location with sea ice will have a downward trend in ice extent,' Parkinson said.
Some people see Antarctica's increasing trend as a sign that global warming isn't real, according to NASA research scientist Dr. Walt Meier, but that's simply not true.
Since the late 1970s, the Arctic has lost an average of 20,800 square miles (53,900 square km) of ice a year while the Antarctic has gained an average of 7,300 square miles (18,900 square km). And on Sept. 19, for the first time since 1979, Antarctic sea ice extent exceeded 7.72 million square miles (20 million square kilometers), a new record.
