Aarhus University researchers found warmer, ice-free Arctic in summer 10,000 years ago! – Watts Up With That?
Via P Gosselin
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Sediment samples show that the Arctic was warmer than 10,000 years ago and that there was no ice in the summer. Furthermore, the researchers say it is “uncertain” whether Arctic sea ice will disappear in the summer before 2063.
Image: NASA (public domain)
The University of Arhus conducted a study that confirmed sea ice disappeared from the Arctic during the summer months during the Early Holocene – 10,000 years ago.
Researchers from Aarhus University, in collaboration with Stockholm University and the US Geological Survey, analyzed samples from a previously inaccessible area north of Greenland. Sediment samples were collected from the seabed in the Lincoln Sea. They showed that the sea ice in this area melted during the summer months about 10,000 years ago.
The team concluded that summer sea ice melted at a time when temperatures were higher than today.
“Climate models have suggested that summer sea ice in this region will melt in the coming decades, but it is uncertain whether that will happen in 20, 30, 40 years or so. Christof Pearce, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences, Aarhus University said: “This project has demonstrated that we are very close to this scenario and that temperatures only need to rise slightly before the ice melts. run.
Summer temperatures are higher than today
The researchers used data from the Early Holocene to predict when sea ice would melt today. During this time period, summer temperature in the Arctic is higher than it is today. Although this is caused by natural climate change In contrast to anthropogenic warming, it remains a natural laboratory to study the fate of this region in the near future.
In Aarhus, seawater samples were analyzed in collaboration with Associate Professor Marianne Glasius and academic technical staff Mads Mørk Jensen from the Department of Chemistry. Among other things, they studied molecules from certain algae that are only produced in the presence of sea ice. Thus, the researchers were able to determine when summer sea ice was present in the area.
When sea ice in the Lincoln Sea began to melt in summer month, it could have major consequences for the climate. Where the white ice reflects the sun’s rays, the dark sea will absorb ten times more solar energy.
“Sea ice is the basis for many ecosystems. The algae we tested is fish food, fish is bird food, etc. marine ecosystem affected globally if sea ice disappears? “We still don’t know the answer,” said Henrieka Detlef, assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences.
According to researchers from Aarhus University, this research can be interpreted as bad news and good news for the climate. Henrieka Detlef also said that if temperatures remained stable or could even drop, “sea ice would return to this area”.
alarm author
Despite the unquestionably strong natural cycles and factors at play in the Arctic, some researchers have a more alarming or even hysterical view of what the future holds. For example, warning that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet, Christof Pearce said, citing questionable modeling results: “The study was a wake-up call, because we knew it would. happen. This news does not make the situation more sad, but only more urgent. We have to act now to change it.”
The study was published in the journal Earth & Environment Communications, and presented using an alarm story. The results of the study indeed confirm that natural elements took place during the early Holocene, and so readers should note that these natural elements have not yet disappeared. They continue to change and drive our climate today.
Henrieka Detlef et al, Seasonal sea ice in the last ice area of the Arctic during the Early Holocene, Earth & Environment Communication (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-023-00720-w
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