CD (Portland) — Climate scientists and activists responded with alarm to reporting that this is the latest date in recorded history that the main nursery of Arctic sea ice in Siberia has yet to start freezing, another example of the present-day consequences of human-caused global warming.

Climate scientists interviewed by The Guardian, explained that “the delayed annual freeze in the Laptev Sea has been caused by freakishly protracted warmth in northern Russia and the intrusion of Atlantic waters.”

“The lack of freeze-up so far this fall is unprecedented in the Siberian Arctic region,” Zachary Labe, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University, told the newspaper. He added, “Without a systematic reduction in greenhouse gases, the likelihood of our first ‘ice-free’ summer will continue to increase by the mid-21st century.”

As The Guardian also noted that the Laptev Sea is known as “the birthplace of ice,” which forms along the coast there in early winter, then drifts westward carrying nutrients across the Arctic, before breaking up in the spring in the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard.

In a series of tweets on the issue, climate scientist Peter Kalmus declared, “Goodbye to the delicate sheet of ice at the top of our planet.”

Food & Water Watch, a Washington DC-based NPO, tweeted, “This is a frightening milestone…Our leaders must act to curb and mitigate climate change.”

The latest climate crisis record comes after Arctic sea ice shrank to the second-lowest documented extent last month, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found was the hottest September ever recorded. Climate scientists warned earlier this month that 2020 is on track to be the warmest year on record.

Originally published at Common Dreams. Republished by cc by-sa 3.0. Minor edits for style and content.

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