Less Sea Ice

A new study says there is less ice today in the Fram Strait between Svalbard Island and Greenland than at any time since the 13th century.  There are of course neither satellite images nor instrument-based records of the climate all the way back to the 13th century, but nature has its own record of climate change for those who know where to look for it, and there are in fact human-made records that contain a lot of relevant information — such as observations in the log books of ships and in harbor records, as well as ice core and tree ring measurements. Piece all of the information together and you get a picture of how much ice there has been at any given time during the last eight centuries.  In the middle of the 17th century there was also a sharp decline in the ice, but it lasted only a very short time. "The greatest cover of sea ice was during the next century, a period known as the 'Little Ice Age'.  There was a sharp change in the ice cover at the start of the 20th century," explains Aslak Grinsted. And that change has continued —"We see that the sea ice is shrinking," he says, "to a level which has not been seen in more than 800 years."  Here is an article with evidence of global warming having an effect on the world.  While such low ice levels have occurred in the past, the fact of the matter is that it is happening now artificially.  And unfortunately, lower ice levels mean higher sea levels, which means less habitat for creatures like polar bears (not strictly a marine animal) and sea lions.  Rising sea levels can wreak havoc on the ecology of a marine region, and as such this is an important marker of the incredible danger to marine life posed by global warming.  However, as this sea level has happened before, I doubt that any serious threat will be posed to marine life.  But it is a warning, and should be listened to.