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(THE GIST OF PIB) New NCPOR study

(MAY-2024)

A recent study by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom, reported the conditions that led to unprecedented hindrance in Antarctic ice expansion and ice retreat ahead of the annual ice maximum in 2023.
In light of global warming, the Arctic has witnessed a significant loss of sea ice in the past decade, while the Antarctic experienced a moderate increase until 2015 followed by a sudden decrease since 2016.
Notably, the Antarctic saw extremely low sea ice conditions during each summer from 2016 to 2023, with unprecedented slow ice expansion or retreat in 2023.
The slow ice expansion in Antarctic occurred ahead of the annual maximum on 7 September 2023 with an ice extent of 16.98 million km2, which was 1.46 million km2 below the long-term average. The underlying cause of the observed sea ice changes remained a crucial question both for the scientific community and policymakers.
The findings suggest that an impact of exceptional ocean-atmospheric warming and changes in winds, combined with heat fluxes, extreme winds and high ocean waves associated with polar cyclones (storms), contributed to the record low ice conditions in Antarctic.
In particular, cyclones caused episodes of exceptional slow ice expansion or even retreat.

The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is India’s premier research and development institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the polar and ocean sciences.