Antarctic Sea Ice Meltdown Traced to Mysterious Spike in Ocean Salt

Antarctic Sea Ice Meltdown Traced to Mysterious Spike in Ocean Salt

Thinning sea ice around Antarctica. Credit: Jason Auch / CC BY 2.0 A dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice has been linked to an unusual and still-unexplained rise in ocean salt levels, raising new concerns about the stability of Earth’s climate system. Sea ice around the southern continent began shrinking steadily in 2015. By July 2023, the ice had fallen to 0.6 million square miles below the historical average—an area larger than Western Europ…

Southern Ocean losing ice fast as decades-long trend reverses

Surface salinity is increasing south of 50° latitude, stratification is weakening, and sea ice has reached multiple record lows, according to new research.