Arctic sea ice nears all-time record wintertime low

Doyle Rice | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption As Arctic Sea Ice Thins, So Do Polar Bears Study of polar bears on dwindling Arctic sea ice finds they are losing weight when they should be packing on the pounds. Some bears lost 3 to 5 pounds a day at the time when normally they beef up. Scientists say global warming is to blame. (Feb. 1)

The amount of wintertime sea ice in the Arctic neared a record low this month, continuing a trend of shrinking ice at the top of the world, scientists announced.

The 5.59 million square miles of sea ice was the second-smallest amount on record in the Arctic, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.

The four lowest wintertime areas occurred during the past four years. Only last year had less wintertime ice. Measurements have been taken each year since 1979.

Sea ice is frozen ocean water that has an annual cycle of melting during the summer and refreezing in winter. The sea ice floats on the ocean.

"The Arctic is really getting hit on both the summer and the winter side," the data center's director, Mark Serreze, told Inside Climate News. "To see this kind of stuff happening over these past four winters ... Arctic ocean heat waves are just weird. I've never seen something like that," said Serreze, who has been studying sea ice since the 1980s.

The shrinking sea ice is caused by rising global temperatures that stem from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, the center said.

The decrease in ice "is devastating news for Arctic wildlife like polar bears and walruses that depend on sea ice for survival,” said Shaye Wolf of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Because of our failure to rein in carbon pollution, these amazing animals are suffering as their habitat melts away even faster than we predicted," she said.

Sea ice in the Arctic also helps regulate the planet’s temperature by influencing the circulation of the atmosphere. Recent studies have said that Arctic sea ice, along with Arctic temperatures, can affect weather patterns in the United States.

More: Warming Arctic linked to extreme cold, heavy snow in U.S., study finds

“It is essential that we take action now to reduce emissions and move toward a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient world," said David Aplin of the World Wildlife Fund. "It is our shared responsibility to safeguard the Arctic and our planet from the ill effects of climate change, and we have no time to spare in doing so.”

At the bottom of the globe, Antarctica sea ice shrank to 842,000 square miles in late February, the second-lowest on record, the data center said. The record low ice area in Antarctica was set last year.