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@ArcticBasecamp: Arctic sea ice reached its 7th lowest minimum extent on record as of September 11, according to new data from the
@NSIDC . Our Chief Science Officer and leading expert on Arctic sea ice Julienne Stroeve emphasized the significance of this ongoing trend: “We are clearly in a new Arctic with summer minimum extents well below 5 million sq-km, something that never happened prior to 2007.” Over the last 18 years, the Arctic has seen its 18 lowest ice extents, signaling a profound shift in the region’s climate.
This is crucial because the Arctic acts as a global thermostat—its ice reflects sunlight, helping to regulate Earth’s temperature. As sea ice declines, planetary warming accelerates, increasing the risk of crossing dangerous climate thresholds. Without action, we could see ice-free Arctic summers by the 2030s. As the Arctic becomes seasonally ice-free, the frequency of strong El Niño events increases significantly, triggering extreme heatwaves, droughts and heavy precipitation in different regions of the world. This makes it critical to reduce CO2 emissions by phasing out fossil fuels now, to slow this trajectory.
National Snow and Ice Data Center
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