Recent Arctic and Antarctic Climate Change: A Brief Review

Abstract

In the Arctic, a rapid increase in surface temperature and marked reduction in sea ice extent has been observed in recent years. For example, in 2007 the September sea ice extent was observed to be 4.28x106 km2, which is about 23% lower than previous record minimum of 2005, and ice thickness decreased to 2.0 meters from 2.6 meters from March 1987. The reduction of sea ice extent and thickness is associated with the increase in surface air temperatures which were greater than 6°C in 2007 relative to the 1958-1998 average and sea surface temperature which increased to 3.5°C in parts of the Arctic Ocean. In contrast to the Arctic, the sea ice extent and temperatures in the Antarctic have not been changed in recent years except for the Antarctic Peninsula where surface temperature increased by about 2°C since 1980. The marked increase in surface temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula led to the breakup of e.g., the Larsen B ice shelf in 2003.