Faster decline and higher variability in the sea ice thickness of the marginal Arctic seas when accounting for dynamic snow cover

4 June 2021

The authors re-estimate pan-Arctic sea ice thickness (SIT) values by combining data from the Envisat and CryoSat-2 missions with data from a new, reanalysis-driven snow model. Because a decreasing amount of ice is being hidden below the waterline by the weight of overlying snow, they argue that SIT may be declining faster than previously calculated in some regions. Because the snow product varies from year to year, their new SIT calculations also display much more year-to-year variability.

The press release by University College London can be found at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/jun/arctic-sea-ice-thinning-faster-expected
Please also read the news item in The Guardian at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/04/arctic-sea-ice-thinning-twice-as-fast-as-thought-study-finds

Contact: Robbie D. C. Mallett (robbie.mallett.17@ucl.ac.uk)