Record-setting ice melt in Arctic

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A record amount of melting took place on the Arctic ice cap this summer, meaning that global warming is not only occurring — but it is happening faster than scientists predicted.

Each year, the Arctic ice cap goes through a seasonal process of growing during the winter, and shrinking during the summer. But during this most recent summer, the ice cap shrank to its smallest size in the history of satellite measurement.

• Science says the planet is warming

The image at the top of this page was taken on Sept.16 by a satellite that monitors ice coverage.

The line drawn onto the image shows the average extent of the sea ice at the end of summertime, based off of 31 years of satellite data.

The difference between that line and the actual amount of ice observed is an area nearly half the size of the United States.

This alarming melting caused by warmer than average temperatures is a sobering reminder of the realities of climate change—as well as what it could mean right here in Texas.

“Temperatures have been rising across Texas for the past four decades or so,” Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon , State Climatologist for Texas, said. “And the climate models project a continued increase at the rate of about one degree Fahrenheit every 10-15 years.”

Another consequence of ice melt is sea level rise. Global ocean levels have already risen almost 7 inches in the past century, and the rate of sea level rise is projected to increase as the ice melt accelerates.

“About one meter of sea level rise over the next century seems to be the middle-of-the-road prediction,” Nielsen-Gammon said.