In the Arctic, the sea ice is melting faster than scientists predicted, researchers at the University of Copenhagen warned on Tuesday. "We have clearly underestimated the rate of temperature rise closer to sea level," Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, professor of climatology, said in a statement.
According to the study, published at the end of July in the journal Nature , the exceptional rise in temperature currently observed in the Arctic finds no precedent until the last ice age. At that time, temperatures rose several times, between 10 and 12 degrees, over a period of 40 to 100 years.
Irreparable ice melt?
So far, researchers have based their predictions on a stable and slow rise in temperatures in the Arctic. But the new study shows that the pace of the increase is more sustained. “The changes occur so quickly in summer that the ice pack is likely to disappear faster” than climate models predicted, warns Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen.
According to a recent British study, the melting ice in Greenland is expected to raise the sea level by 10 to 12 cm by 2100. Other researchers believe that the melting of the ice cap is irreparable. According to them, it will continue to shrink "even if global warming stops today", because snowfall no longer compensates for the loss of ice.
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