Arctic Ice Thawing

American glaciologists have released new data confirming the drastic warming up of the Arctic region.

Researchers of the National Center for the Study of Snow and Ice and the Washington State University have found that the mean temperature of water in the Arctic Ocean during the period from January to August of 2005 was 2-3 degrees higher than the average for the previous 50 years.

Last spring snow began to thaw in that region 17 days earlier than normally. In winter of 2004-2005 the area of the Arctic ice shield grew less than during any other winter period from the beginning of the 1980s.

As of September 21, the total area of the Arctic ice shield was 5 mln 320 thousand square kilometers, which is 20 percent less than the mean value over 1978-2000.

In general, the area of the summer icing of the Arctic Ocean is shrinking now at the rate of 8 percent over a decade. It this trend remains, by 2060 the Arctic seas would be completely free of ice in summer time.