JAXA SCIENTISTS ESTIMATE SEA ICE GETTING THINNER IN ARTIC OCEAN DUE TO TEMPERATURE INCREASE

FROM: THE JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY

August 25, 2012 (JST)

Arctic Sea Ice Observation Data Analysis Results
- Ice extent became smallest in observation history -

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been observing the Earth by the Global Change Observation Mission 1st - Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1) since July 3, 2012 (Japan Standard Time.) As a result of our analysis on sea ice data measured by the onboard microwave scanning radiometer, we found that the sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean has become the smallest in observation history. The extent on August 24 (JST) was 4.21 million square kilometers, and that fell below the smallest record of 4.25 million square kilometers marked in 2007 in satellite observation history.


According to our observations, the sea ice extent shrunk to the second smallest in September 2011, and, after that, satellite observation images confirmed that some parts of multi-year ice (which had survived one or several summer and become thick) had flowed into the Atlantic Ocean during winter to spring. In the spring of 2012, we confirmed through satellite image analysis that about a half of the Arctic Ocean was broadly covered by a thin layer of one-year-old ice (which was formed in or after the last summer) thus we estimate that sea ice is getting thinner due to recent temperature increase in the Arctic Ocean.


Arctic sea ice usually becomes smallest in mid to late September; therefore, melting will continue till then. JAXA keeps monitoring the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean by the SHIZUKU to report the latest status via press releases and on our website.