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Ozone layer treaty pushed back ice-free Arctic summers up to 15 years

22 May 2023

A 1987 treaty to ban ozone-destroying gases helped delay the first Arctic summer with no ice, which is now projected to happen by 2037 at the earliest


Polar ice sheets may retreat much faster than previously thought

5 April 2023

Traces on the sea floor suggest an ancient ice sheet retreated at more than 600 metres per day at the end of the last glaciation, raising concern about the fate of modern ice sheets


TOPSHOT - Icebergs float in Disko Bay, Ilulissat, western Greenland, on June 28, 2022. - The icebergs originate from Jakobshavn glacier (Sermeq Kujalleq), the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. The massive icebergs that detach from the glacier float for years in the waters in front of the fjord before being carried south by ocean currents. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Arctic and Antarctic saw record warmth and ice melt in 2022

14 December 2022

The sea ice around Antarctica shrank to the smallest area ever recorded in early 2022, and there were exceptionally high temperatures at both poles


Mandatory Credit: Photo by David Goldman/AP/Shutterstock (12856458a) A drop of water falls off an iceberg melting in the Nuup Kangerlua Fjord near Nuuk in southwestern Greenland, . Earth's poles are undergoing simultaneous freakish extreme heat with parts of Antarctica more than 70 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) warmer than average and areas of the Arctic more than 50 degrees (30 degrees Celsius) warmer than average Hot Poles, Nuup Kangerlua Fjord, Greenland

Arctic and Antarctic see extreme heat and historically low sea ice

22 March 2022

Both poles are being warmed by unusually hot air currents, but scientists think the extreme temperatures in Antarctica are a result of natural variability not climate change


Fram Strait, Northern Fulmars At An Ice Floe Of The Arctic Ice Edge.

Atlantic Ocean water began warming the Arctic as early as 1907

24 November 2021

A sediment core from Svalbard has revealed a sudden influx of warm water in the Arctic in 1907, which is evidence of a process that is spurring ice loss


forest fire

‘Zombie’ fires in Alaska and Canada may be becoming more common

19 May 2021

Some forest fires burn in the summer, smoulder through winter and reignite in spring – and a new model suggests they may be becoming more common in parts of the Arctic


Greenland ice sheet

Arctic sea ice loss could trigger huge levels of extra global warming

27 October 2020

Arctic sea ice vanishing in summers by 2050 could trigger 0.19°C of extra global warming – almost enough to wipe out any savings from China going carbon neutral


Tiny algae can photosynthesise and grow in the dark beneath Arctic ice

Tiny algae can photosynthesise and grow in the dark beneath Arctic ice

25 September 2020

Microscopic marine algae can use even the smallest amount of reflected light to grow in near darkness during winter under the Arctic sea ice


Fire and melting ice: The Arctic is having a terrifyingly bad year

Fire and melting ice: The Arctic is having a terrifyingly bad year

12 August 2020

As records tumble, 2020 has been an extraordinary year for the Arctic – and there is more to come unless we take action on climate change


Climate change may kill off nearly all polar bears by 2100

Climate change may kill off nearly all polar bears by 2100

20 July 2020

Unchecked climate change will doom all but one of the world’s populations of polar bears before the end of the century, as vanishing sea ice increases their annual fasts beyond their limits


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