In an article I read “Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record”, NASA talks about the decrease in ice coverage over the Arctic and how it’s been affecting our atmosphere. The ice coverage over the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas, helps regulate the planet's temperature, influences the circulation of the atmosphere and benefits different arctic ecosystems. Scientists have been observing that sea ice shrinks every year during the spring and the summer and eventually regrows during the fall and winter when the “sun is below the horizon in the Arctic”. However, the pace of melting ice was unpredictable and continuously changed paces worrying many scientists this past year. This changing of pace caused melting momentum in June and July to slow down, when normally those two months should have a steady increase of melting ice because the Arctic is exposed to 24 hours of sunlight. Careful examination of the ice in the Arctic goes to show that the ice has not been “rebounding where it used to be” and there is a clear significant change of sea ice. As winter ice continues to disappear, evaporation will also increase resulting in even more clouds in the atmosphere therefore warming up the atmosphere during the winter. Wildlife that has once depended on these cold temperatures and ice sheets are now in danger. It is our responsibility as humans on this earth to stop climate change from continuing on.
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