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CBC: Antarctic sea ice hits record high while the Arctic’s keeps melting

October 21, 2014 — 

Sea ice depth and spread is generally declining in the Arctic, but it hit a record high in the Antarctic this year, the CBC reports.

Why? U of M’s David Barber, Distinguished Professor in the department of environment and geography, explains.

“Climate change is playing a big role in both the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice conditions,” says David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

“The main difference is that the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land and the Antarctic is land surrounded by an ocean.”

When some sea ice in the Arctic disappears, that changes the surface from a bright white to a very dark ocean.

“This allows more energy from the sun to penetrate into the surface mixed layer of the ocean and thus warms things up even more,” Barber says.

 

 

Click to read more at CBC.

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