Scientists warn Earth may have reached the tipping point of global warming.
The warning comes after the largest expedition ever by a team of scientists to the North Pole.
Researchers Markus Rex present the first results of the world’s largest mission to the North Pole, an expedition involving 300 scientists from 20 countries. Arctic ice is losing faster than ever.
The cost of this shipment was $ 165 million. Scientists returned to Germany in October after 389 days of Arctic exploration, bringing back devastating evidence of a “slowly dying” Arctic Ocean and warnings of an ice-free summer just days away. 1000 tape samples. The data collected during the expedition concerned the atmosphere, oceans, sea ice and ecosystems.
Scientists found that the ice in the Arctic Ocean was losing “faster in the spring of 2020 than at the start of data collection” and “the thickness of the pack ice,” said Markus Rex. what it was in previous decades “.
The measured temperature is 10 ° C above the background noise recorded during the Fram expedition by explorers and scientists Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen in the 1890s.
Due to the smaller sea ice surface, the ocean can absorb more heat in the summer. As a result, the formation of ice caps in the fall occurs more slowly than usual.
Stefanie Arndt, an expert in sea ice physics, said: “It is heartbreaking to know that we may be the last generation to see an Arctic still covered in ice in the summer.” . According to Ms. Arndt, this pack ice is gradually decreasing, despite being an important habitat for polar bears, seals and other animals.
To carry out the research, four observation points were established on the pack ice within a radius of up to 40 km around the Polarstern ship carrying out the mission.
Among the data collected are water samples under the ice to study plankton and plant bacteria, and to better understand how marine ecosystems work under extreme conditions. . More than 100 parameters are measured almost continuously throughout the year.
The information gathered will contribute to the development of many models to help predict heat waves, heavy rains or storms in the next 20, 50 or 100 years.
