In a new study published in nature research journal, an international team of researchers at the UK Met Office have predicted that the Arctic Sea could be ice free in just 15 years.
The stark warning was made after the scientists used advanced climate modelling techniques allowing them to compare the world's current Arctic ice coverage to the last interglacial period 127,000 years ago. Interglacial periods are the periods between ice ages, we are currently living in an interglacial period at the moment. The modelling techniques showed what sea ice and melt ponds looked like in the past and compared them to now.
The conclusion was found that by 2035 the Arctic sea ice will be gone.
Melt ponds are important as they determine how much of the Sun's rays are absorbed or reflected. Increased absorption leads to higher ice temperatures and increased glacial melt. This process can often snowball, meaning higher temperatures lead to greater melting, which in turn leads to less sunlight absorption and even greater melting.
Dr. Maria Vittoria Guarino, of the Earth System Modeller at British Antarctic Survey, said:
"The prospect of loss of sea-ice by 2035 should really be focusing all our minds on achieving a low-carbon world as soon as humanly feasible."
Such a rapid reduction in ice will lead to higher water levels, which could lead to massive flooding of low lying land and leave many currently inhabited places underwater. It will also lead to massive habitat loss and a rise in the world's overall temperature, leaving those near the equator in near unliveable conditions.
While many government have vowed to reduce their carbon footprint, the fact that such a disaster is so close leads many scientists to believe that their actions are simply not good enough, and catastrophe may not be avoided. It is clear that a huge war-like effort would be required at this stage to transform the world economy and our modes of production to a sustainable format.
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