Last December, NOAA released its annual Arctic Report Card, a reflection of the past year’s land, ice, and ocean observations. Sinead Farrell, ESSIC/CICS Associate Research Scientist, co-authored a chapter on Sea Ice alongside international colleagues.
The chapter discussed the continuing decline of Arctic sea ice cover. In 2018, the summer maximum extent was the sixth lowest and the winter minimum extent was the second lowest in satellite record. Of particular interest to the scientists was the dearth of ice in the Bering Sea, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that stretches from Alaska to Russia. For virtually the entirety of the 2017-2018 Bering Sea ice season, ice cover was at record low levels.
In addition to her work at ESSIC and CICS-MD, Sinead Farrell is a visiting scientist at the Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP), and an affiliate of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). She is also a principal investigator on the NASA/NOAA Ocean Surface Topography Science Team as well as the NASA ICESat-2 Science Definition Team.
To read the chapter or the entire report, click here: Arctic Report Card: Update for 2018.
To read an EOS press release of the report, click here: Arctic Undergoing Most Unprecedented Transition in Human History.
