An area of multi-year sea ice between the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Greenland that may
It was previously assumed that this area would becomea vital refuge in the coming decades for polar bears, walruses and other sea ice-dependent animals, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
But that may become impossible.
“The territory of the last ice is losing mass of ice intwice as fast as the entire Arctic, said Kent Moore, professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto and lead author of the new study, in a statement. "We realized that this area may not be as stable as people think."
Scientists have focused their researchon the ice arches that connect the “last ice zone” to the mainland and hold it in place. Such arches are formed depending on the season, when the weather is cold at the beginning of winter and numerous ice streams converge in a narrow water stream, creating gigantic structures. They look like "bridge supports turned on their side," the statement says. With the onset of summer, arches usually melt.
In particular, scientists observed arches thatare formed along the Nares Strait, a 40 km wide channel that stretches 600 km between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Images collected by the Sentinel-1 satellite over two decades showed that ice arcs in the strait are becoming increasingly fragile.
Because ice arches form laterand melt earlier, the “last ice” zone becomes less stable and may begin to collapse more in the coming years. If the arches become so thin that they begin to collapse in winter, then the entire area of sea ice could move south.
This will have serious consequences not onlyfor animals. Algae blooms beneath the sea ice, as well as in the salty seawater channels that pass through its cracks and fissures, supply the carbon, oxygen and nutrients that underpin the entire ecosystem.
Not to mention the potential damage caused by ice on its way south by rising sea levels.
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