根據美國波爾德市科羅拉多大學所做的最新研究發現，數十年來面積不斷縮小的北極冰洋，可能已經到達高峰，進而在地球溫帶地區引發一連串的氣候變化。
這份由科羅拉多大學波爾德分校的國家冰雪資料中心資深研究員塞瑞茲博士所主導的研究，綜合了近期其他研究結果後指出，自1979年啟動衛星記錄以來，北極冰洋的面積每個月都在縮小。每年9月測量的結果顯示，冰洋每一年縮小近3萬8千平方英里，塞瑞茲博士和他的研究團隊將此現象歸咎於北極冰洋溫室氣體濃度的升高，以及激烈的自然變動。
所謂的海冰是指漂浮在海面上結冰的海水，覆蓋面積達數百萬平方英里，而海水隨著極地的季節結冰和融化，也影響了人類的活動和生物的棲地。
塞瑞茲博士表示，北極冰層的下降將對美國科羅拉多州等其他西部地區產生影響，例如進入西部地區的北極冷鋒強度減弱和降雪量減少，進而衝擊當地滑雪產業和農業。他同時也指出，較薄的幼冰層成形後，在緊接而來的夏季中就快速融化，形成更大面積的開放水域，而這些開放海域會吸收更多的太陽輻射，導致海水溫度升高而冰層更快融化的惡性循環。
Arctic sea ice that has been shrinking for decades may have reached a tipping point that could trigger a cascade of climate changes reaching Earth's temperate regions, finds a new study from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Dr. Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center who led the study synthesizing results from recent research, said Arctic sea ice extent has been decreasing in every month since 1979, when satellite recordkeeping began.
Serreze and his team attributed the loss of ice, about 38,000 square miles annually as measured each September, to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases and strong natural variability in Arctic sea ice.
Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface. Covering millions of square miles, sea ice forms and melts with the polar seasons, affecting both human activity and biological habitat.
The decline in Arctic sea ice could impact western states like Colorado by reducing the severity of Arctic cold fronts dropping into the West and reducing snowfall, impacting the ski industry and agriculture, he said. The thinner layer of "young" ice that formed in its place melts out more readily in the succeeding summers, leading to more open water and more solar radiation being absorbed by the open ocean and fostering a cycle of higher temperatures and earlier ice melt, he said.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
