<
https://www.sciencealert.com/6-4-sigma-event-antarctic-sea-ice-hits-lowest-point-since-official-records-began>
'2023 has gone from bad to worse for Earth's southern ocean.
In February, climate researchers announced that Antarctica's sea ice had hit
its lowest summer level since satellite records began 45 years ago.
A few months later, in June, during what should be a 'winter growth phase',
floating sea ice around Antarctica was still struggling to recover.
A time series of sea ice in the southern ocean, put together by climate
researchers at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows
July's coverage is well below where it should be.
Compared to the extent of winter sea ice before 2010, the ocean is now missing
about 2.6 million square kilometers of ice – almost four times the size of
Texas.
The new extreme beats previous record lows reached in 2016, 2017, and 2022.
"To say unprecedented isn't strong enough," physical oceanographer Edward
Doddridge told
ABC News Australia.
At the time of this quote, the record low had reached the level of a five-sigma
event, the threshold at which researchers are really confident that what
they're seeing isn't just the random variability from the Universe's chaos at
work.'
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
