NASA, NSIDC to Hold Media Teleconference on Arctic Sea Ice Record Low

Aug. 27, 2012

J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

Maria-Jose Vinas
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-614-5883
mj.vinas@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-162

NASA, NSIDC TO HOLD MEDIA TELECONFERENCE ON ARCTIC SEA ICE RECORD LOW

GREENBELT, Md. -- The extent of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean
has shrunk. According to scientists from NASA and the NASA-supported
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colo., the
amount is the smallest size ever observed in the three decades since
consistent satellite observations of the polar cap began.

NASA and NSIDC scientists will host a media teleconference at 3 p.m.
EDT, today, to discuss this new record low for summertime Arctic sea
ice cover.

The extent of Arctic sea ice on Aug. 26, as measured by the Special
Sensor Microwave/Imager on the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program spacecraft and analyzed by NASA and NSIDC scientists, was
1.58 million square miles (410 million square kilometers), or 27,000
square miles (70,000 square kilometers) below the Sept. 18, 2007,
daily extent of 1.61 million square miles (4.17 million square
kilometers).

The sea ice cap naturally grows during the cold Arctic winters and
shrinks when temperatures climb in the spring and summer. But over
the last three decades, satellites have observed a 13 percent decline
per decade in the minimum summertime extent of the sea ice. The
thickness of the sea ice cover also continues to decline.

"The persistent loss of perennial ice cover -- ice that survives the
melt season -- led to this year's record summertime retreat," said
Joey Comiso, senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Unlike 2007, temperatures were not
unusually warm in the Arctic this summer."

The new record was reached before the end of the melt season in the
Arctic, which usually takes place in mid- to late-September.
Scientists expect to see an even larger loss of sea ice in the coming
weeks.

"In 2007, it was actually much warmer," Comiso said. "We are losing
the thick component of the ice cover. And if you lose the thick
component of the ice cover, the ice in the summer becomes very
vulnerable."

"By itself it's just a number, and occasionally records are going to
get set," NSIDC research scientist Walt Meier said about the new
record. "But in the context of what's happened in the last several
years and throughout the satellite record, it's an indication that
the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing."

The panelists for the briefing are:

-- Joey Comiso, senior research scientist, Goddard
-- Walt Meier, research scientist, NSDIC

To participate in the teleconference and obtain dial-in information,
reporters must contact Maria-Jose Vinas at mj.vinas@nasa.gov or
Natasha Vizcarra at natasha.vizcarra@nsidc.org by 3 p.m. EDT today.

For more information and supporting images, go to:

http://go.nasa.gov/PmOyHo


-end-



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