Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
Climate warming is shrinking the amount of sea ice in the arctic, but there are localized anomalies. That was one of the messages during the roll out of new web-based climate tool last week.
The quarterly Alaska Climate Dispatch includes seasonal weather, climate, wild fire and sea ice information. It’s put together by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, and includes input from a number of university and agency partners. UAF International Arctic research Center Director John Walsh said arctic wide sea ice coverage has continued at record low levels for the third-straight year.
Walsh said that while arctic wide sea ice is well below the 30 year average, winter ice coverage has actually been increasing on the Bering Sea.
Walsh tempered the news by noting that the broader coverage in the Bering Sea is mostly due to an increase in thinner seasonal ice that melts during the summer.
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