The ice cap shrank by 386,100 square miles – an area four times as large as the UK – from the previous low in 2005. It’s the biggest drop from a previous record that we’ve ever had and it’s really quite astounding,” said Walt Meier, from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre. It left the ice covering an area of just 1.59million square miles he added. The record low was recorded in satellite photographs on Sunday. He blamed the melting sea ice on conditions created by global warming and added that at this rate we could see the end of summer sea ice in our lifetimes.
Melting sea ice, unlike the melting glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica, does not contribute to sea levels rising, much as an ice cube in a glass of water does not make the level of liquid rise when it melts. However, the less ice there is the more dark water there is to absorb the sun’s rays, which could contribute to global warming. The director of Greenpeace, John Sauven, said global warming as a planetary emergency and called on governments to work harder to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.
