SEA ice in the Arctic reached a record low this summer, a US government report said last week. But it could have been even worse were it not for a dramatic increase in summer clouds.
The report, by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, utilised NASA satellite data (see Graph). It says that higher temperatures are to blame, and that this effect is self-reinforcing, because white ice is being replaced by dark ocean that absorbs more heat from the sun.
“If passing changes in atmospheric circulation are creating extra clouds, ice loss could accelerate…
