BOULDER — The ice remaining on the Arctic Ocean is thinner and younger than it used to be, according to a new study by University of Colorado at Boulder researchers.
Arctic sea ice has been steadily shrinking in extent for several years, and scientists have fretted that summertime ice may disappear from the northern ocean by midcentury. That would have consequences for weather around the world, with some studies suggesting it could make America’s Southwest even more arid.
The new study, which relied on satellite data and measurements by ocean buoys, now shows that nearly all the thick, multiyear ice is gone from the ocean.
Today, 58 percent of Arctic sea ice is thin and 2 to 3 years old, according to the report. In the mid-1980s, only 35 percent of sea ice was that thin.
