ALEJANDRA BORUNDA: Arctic summer sea ice could disappear as early as 2035
LAST MONTH, LESS sea
ice covered the Arctic Ocean than in any other July since scientists began
keeping track of it with satellites in 1979, marking another step toward a
devastating and planet-reshaping inevitability: an ice-free summer for the
Arctic Ocean. Each year, Arctic sea
ice expands as the sea surface freezes during the long, dark winter. At its
maxi-mum in March, the ice covers nearly the entire Arctic Ocean, almost 6
million square miles. It melts back during summer, reaching its lowest point in
September. In July during the 1980s, the ice covered an average of about 3.8
million square miles, roughly the area of the U.S. or Canada.
This July, sea ice
covered only about 2.8 million square miles. Since 1979, Arctic sea ice has
declined by an average of 27,000 square miles a year, an area the size of North
Dakota that melts each year and doesn’t grow back....
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/08/arctic-summer-sea-ice-could-be-gone-by-2035/REBECCA SMITHERS - We Are Flushing Away Our Forests: Researchers warn that toilet paper is becoming unsustainable
