Arctic Ice is Getting Thinner by the Day

 A new study says the structural change has been abrupt, making life harder for everything from tiny algae to polar bears, reports​​​​​​​ National Geographic.

Arctic sea ice has undergone an abrupt, permanent, and consequential change in its structure - from thick and ridged to thin and flat. The shift occurred around 2007, when record-low summer ice cover triggered a feedback cycle of rising ocean heat and spiraling ice.

Now, when ice floes collide, the thinner sea ice is more prone to shatter from the pressure than build ridges - an accordion-like process by which ice thickens. The thin, flat ice also moves across the ocean more quickly, giving floes less time to grow, and making life harder for those who rely on them to survive.

“Sea ice is to the Arctic ecosystem what soil is for the forest,” says Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist at Cornell University and Polar Bears International.

“Rapid changes like these will affect all sea ice-dependent fauna and flora, from tiny under-ice algae to top predators like polar bears.”

Ridges make Arctic sea ice thicker and sturdier. From above, they look “like Lego bricks in an elongated pile,” says Mats Granskog, part of the research team that has since 1990 been monitoring sea ice in the Fram Strait - the main gateway between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

Thick, ridged ice like this has decreased by half since 2007, lead author Hiroshi Sumata and colleagues at the Norwegian Polar Institute report.

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