Observed Hemispheric Asymmetry in Global Sea Ice Changes

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Cavalieri, D. J., Gloersen, P., Parkinson, C. L., Comiso, J. C., Zwally, H. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1997
• Subjects: Arctic; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.278.5340.1104; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.278.5340.1104

From November 1978 through December 1996, the areal extent of sea ice decreased by 2.9 ± 0.4 percent per decade in the Arctic and increased by 1.3 ± 0.2 percent per decade in the Antarctic. The observed hemispheric asymmetry in these trends is consistent with a modeled response to a carbon dioxide–induced climate warming. The interannual variations, which are 2.3 percent of the annual mean in the Arctic, with a predominant period of about 5 years, and 3.4 percent of the annual mean in the Antarctic, with a predominant period of about 3 years, are uncorrelated.