A £5m project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to investigate the complex changes seen in sea ice around the Antarctic begins this month (March 2022) as the sea ice extent around the continent drops to a record low level.
A £5m project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to investigate the complex changes seen in sea ice around the Antarctic begins this month (March 2022) as the sea ice extent around the continent drops to a record low level.
Antarctic sea ice has shown a complex pattern of changes over recent decades having slowly increased in extent in the early part of this century before decreasing rapidly and reaching a record low level of 1.9 million square kilometres last month on 25 February, one million square kilometres below the long-term average – an area covering the size of Eqypt.
Sea ice is an extremely important component of the Antarctic environment, through its role as a habitat for seabirds and marine mammals, and because of the part it plays in the global ocean circulation.
To advance scientists’ understanding of variability in Antarctic sea ice, NERC is funding a four-year study called Drivers and Effects of Fluctuations in sea Ice in the ANTarctic (DEFIANT), involving major UK sea ice research groups and international partners. The project comprises fieldwork carried out from research ships and instrumented aircraft, satellite investigations and research with numerical models.
Read more at British Antarctic Survey
Photo Credit: Michelle_Raponi via Pixabay
