Crisis as ice melts and risks riseBiodiversity and natureClimate ChangeOil and gasThe US-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) announced that Arctic sea ice had preliminarily reached it’s annual maximum on 22 March 2025—the lowest sea ice maximum on record. Changing weather conditions or late season ice growth means that these results could still change ahead of NSIDC’s full analysis, which will be released in early April. Regardless, any loss in Arctic sea ice is a stark reminder of climate change’s impact on the entire Arctic ecosystem. Martin Sommerkorn, Head of Conservation for the WWF Global Arctic Programme, explains the importance of Arctic sea ice for the region and the entire world.Martin Sommerkorn, Head of Conservation, WWF Global Arctic ProgrammeWhat are the primary drivers for the Arctic’s accelerated warmth, especially compared to the rest of the world?The Arctic acts like Earth’s climate refrigerator. Warm air and water from the south are carried there by ocean currents and weather systems and are cooled down by the cold ocean and (shallow) atmosphere. But as global warming intensifies, more heat reaches the Arctic, causing ice and snow to melt. This weakens the Arctic’s cooling effect, allowing heat to build up and making the region warm even faster. This process is called Arctic amplification.Previously, the Arctic was reported to be warming twice as fast as the global average. Later, research showed it was warming three times faster. And data from the 40 years leading up to 2022, based on the region north of 66°N (the Arctic Circle rather than the broader 60°N definition used in atmospheric sciences), suggests it may be nearly four times faster.
How does this impact the rest of the world?
The loss of Arctic sea ice has been dramatic, with a decline of about 60 per cent since 1900, most of which has happened since 1980. With less ice to reflect sunlight, more heat is absorbed by the ocean, contributing to changes in atmospheric and oceanic patterns. These shifts have been widely discussed in relation to extreme weather events in the Northern Hemisphere.
Thawing permafrost releases additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, estimated to add the emissions of a medium sized country to the atmosphere over the course of this century. Once this process begins, it will continue for hundreds of years, leaving future generations to deal with its effects.
One of the biggest concerns is the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is considered a major global tipping point. Scientists estimate that its threshold for slow but inevitable disintegration lies somewhere between 1.5 and 2.2 degrees of global warming. With current commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, we are on track for 2.3 degrees of warming by 2100. This would be sufficient to melt large parts of Greenland and West Antarctica, leading to sea-level rise exceeding 10 metres in the coming centuries. The speed and magnitude of this long-term, unstoppable sea-level rise will cause persistent challenges for coastal regions including widespread loss of agricultural land, infrastructure, and livelihoods. Today, about 75 per cent of cities with more than five million inhabitants are located below 10 metres in elevation, making this a crisis that will affect millions.
https://www.arcticwwf.org/newsroom/features/arctic-sea-ice-maximum-crisis-as-ice-melts-and-risks-rise/
