The satellite reading since 1979 showed that the ice of the Arctic’s area is continuously melting and it resulted in a new study which tells that if such a situation in the Arctic continues, then polar bears and other ice-dependent species will have to go through extinction by the end of this century.
The most thick ice of the arctic region lies in the “Last Ice Area“. This part is widened across 380,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) right from the western coast of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to Greenland’s northern coast.
As reported by Live Science, initially scientists assumed that the thick ice region will last for a decade. But now they came across two different situations. One if the carbon emissions are controlled and halted immediately then a limited part of ice will remain there.
While in the next plot if the carbon emissions and thus the warming of earth goes on at the same rate then different ice-dependent species including polar bears and seals will be extinct by 2100. But in both situations, ice will definitely go through a decrease in its thickness by 2050 reported in the study.
Study co-author Robert Newton, a senior research scientist at Columbia University says, “If the year-round ice melts away then the ice-dependent ecosystem will collapse and something different and maybe weird will begin then.” He added that they were doing a huge experiment.
The ice cover of the arctic region contracts and increases every year, thus achieving the minimum extent by the end of September month. And then reach its peak again through winter and by the end of March month. But as per National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in the past decade, the increased emissions of greenhouse gases decrease the span in which sea ice covers and remains there.
NSIDC also said that the amount of older ice that goes through at least one melt season is less than ever recorded and around a fifth of what has studied in the first survey 40 years ago.
Different ice-dependent species like photosynthetic algae, small crustaceans, fish, seals, narwhals, bowhead whales, and polar bears all live on the changing network of ice and a few more decreases in ice covering might affect them and further lead to their extinction.
Arctic bears for their meal are dependent on seals when they come to the surface for breathing purposes. Their jaws are structured to eat soft meat while they were also seen eating seabird eggs and caribou in 2015.
A study at that time published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment found that calories from such sources do not meet their needs. Researchers predicted that the ecosystem may disappear if carbon emissions increased. The main reason is climate change for this situation and it is required to control the carbon emissions as early as possible.