Due to global warming, the huge chunks of sea ice and sea ice in the Arctic have become thinner, creating holes more than 10 times larger than before.
It is especially unusual for it to occur in the middle of the ocean, and it is expected to have an impact on Korea’s winter cold wave.
Lee Dong-eun is a reporter.
[Reporter]
This shows the thickness of Arctic sea ice over the two months since last June.
The closer it is to blue, the thinner the ice is. You can see it gradually becoming darker and spreading toward the center of the Arctic Ocean.
The ‘polynya’ phenomenon occurs when the ice thickness thins to less than 1m and holes form.
Polynyas, which occur in the Arctic during the summer, usually occur along the coast in먹튀검증 contact with land.
However, it is unusual for an ice hole to be created in the middle of the sea like this, and its size is at least 10 times the size of the existing polynya.
[Minho Kwon / Director of the Marine Climate Prediction Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology: It is presumed that the polynya that occurred this time was formed by the inflow of relatively warm seawater while sea ice was thinning due to global warming.] The problem is that once a polynya occurs
, This means that more large-scale holes may appear in the Arctic Ocean.
Because polynya supplies a large amount of heat to the atmosphere, if it continues for a long period of time, it can also affect abnormal climate.
[Minho Kwon / Director of the Marine Climate Prediction Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology: As the temperature in the Arctic rises, the jet stream weakens, which can cause very cold Arctic air to flow into mid-latitude regions, including Korea. This will expose the mid-latitudes to the cold air of the Arctic. The region may experience a temporary cold spell.]
Polynya may also affect the ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean as more of the ocean surface is exposed.
The research team said that as polynya continues, Arctic sea ice may decrease, so continuous observation and preparation of not only our country’s seas but also the global seas is necessary.