No One Is Exempt, Each of Us Contribute to Arctic Sea Ice Melt
For the first time in history, a new study revealed how each of us contribute to the melting of Arctic Sea ice.
According to the study conducted by the researchers from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, each tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) that any person on our planet emits, three square metres of Arctic summer sea ice disappear.
This is a breakthorugh study that points the individual how each of us contribute to the melting of Artic sea ice.
This finding also concludes that the two degrees Celsius global warming target agreed on in the most recent UN Climate Conference will not allow Arctic summer sea ice to survive.
This study has been published in the journal Science this week by Dirk Notz, leader of a Max Planck Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Julienne Stroeve from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre.
Link Between Between Carbon-Dioxide Emissions and the Area of Arctic Summer Sea Ice
According to the study, link between carbon-dioxide emissions and the area of Arctic summer sea ice, and find that both are linearly related.
Lead author Dirk Notz said, “The observed numbers are very simple. For each tonne of carbon dioxide that a person emits anywhere on this planet, three square metres of Arctic summer sea ice is lost.”
To cite an example for this, the study cites that a flight from London – San Francisco return, it is estimated that five square metres of sea ice will disappear.
Co-author Julienne Stroeve said, “So far, climate change has often felt like a rather abstract notion. Our results allow us to overcome this perception.”
More Bad News
The worst is yet to come as the study calculated that another 1000 gigatonnes of CO2 and sea ice will be stripped by September. The authors explained that this amount of emissions is considered a rough estimate of the allowable emissions to reach the two degree Celsius global-warming target. Only for the much lower emissions that would allow one to keep global warming below 1.5 °C, as called for by the Paris agreement, Arctic summer sea ice has a realistic chance of long-term survival.
