Perennial Arctic ice melting faster

In the latest dicey global warming news, about 1 million square miles of perennial Arctic ice melted in the last year. That’s an area of about half again as large as Alaska.

The perennial ice is ice more than one year old. Most of it is near the North Pole. The melting of that much “established” ice that close to the pole is what has scientific alarm bells ringing.

“Thickness is an indicator of long-term health of sea ice, and that’s not looking good at the moment,” Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Even ice six years old or older is shrinking. That ice lost almost 600,000 square miles, an area more than twice the size of Texas.

Now, per the story, this does not mean total ice volume lost — yet. The Arctic Ocean is not suddenly wide open.

It does mean that in many areas, the stronger perennial ice is being replaced by younger, frailer new ice that is more easily disturbed by wind and warm sea temperatures. Which means that the Arctic is in danger of becoming more and more open.