Arctic

A study led by ISGlobal researchers has analysed how the loss of Arctic sea ice influences climate in isolation from other factors related to climate change. Their results, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, show that, on a time scale of decades, the loss of Arctic sea ice favours a drier climate in the southwestern United States -in particular in California-, especially in winter. This phenomenon would also affect the climate of Spain and Portugal, leading to wetter conditions in winter, although the effect is weaker.

In three to six years, the first ice-free day in the Arctic could occur if a series of extreme weather events - such as an unusually warm autumn, winter and spring in the region - occur, according to a study comparing various models and scenarios in Nature Communications. An ice-free day refers to a day with Arctic Ocean ice coverage of less than 1 million square kilometres; the average coverage was 6.85 million square kilometres between 1979 and 1992.

Research published in Nature shows that the Eurasian ice sheet may have retreated up to 600 metres a day on the Norwegian continental shelf during the last deglaciation at the end of the last Ice Age, around 20,000 years ago. This would indicate that retreat rates in this region may have far exceeded previous estimates and would be much greater than any observed from satellites. According to the authors, the research "is a warning from the past about the rate at which ice sheets are physically capable of retreating".

The weekend saw record temperatures in both the Arctic and Antarctica, up to 40°C above normal for this time of year.