Arctic 'Melt Season' Is Growing Longer, New Research Demonstrates

New NASA-led research shows that the melt season for Arctic sea ice has lengthened by an average of 20 days over the span of 28 years, or 6.4 days per decade. The finding stems from scientists’ work to compile the first comprehensive record of melt onset and freeze-up dates — the “melt season” — for the entire Arctic.

The melt season begins each April when the sunless winter gives way to sunrise and spring, and water and air temperatures rise. By September, the sea ice shrinks to a minimum and begins refreezing, bringing the annual melt season to an end.

The longer melt season, described by Thorsten Markus of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in the Journal of Geophysical Research — Oceans, has implications for the future of Arctic sea ice. Open water that appears earlier in the season absorbs more heat from the sun throughout summer, further warming the water and promoting more melting.

“This feedback process has always been present, yet with more extensive open water this feedback becomes even stronger and further boosts ice loss,” Markus said. “Melt is starting earlier, but the trend towards a later freeze-up is even stronger because of this feedback effect.

Physorg