Arctic Snow Depth, Ice Thickness, and Volume From ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2: 2018–2021

[rebewranger]

Arctic Snow Depth, Ice Thickness, and Volume From ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2: 2018–2021
31 mins ago Charles Rotter 4 Comments
New paper and of course it’s worse than we thought.


New estimates of snow depth, from a combination of lidar and radar, improve sea-ice thickness estimates, according to a new study in AGU’s Geophysical Research Letters. Arctic sea ice has lost 16% of its thickness in the last three years, the study finds.
Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen

According to the press release:

– End-of-season Arctic multiyear sea ice is about 1.5 feet thinner in 2021 than in 2019

– Arctic Ocean sea ice lost one-third of its volume in the past 18 years

– New pan-Arctic snow depth suggests previous estimates of sea ice thickness may have been overestimated

https://news.agu.org/press-release/new-observations-from-icesat-2-show-remarkable-arctic-sea-ice-thinning-in-just-three-years

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/12/arctic-snow-depth-ice-thickness-and-volume-from-icesat-2-and-cryosat-2-2018-2021/

[Smokin Joe]

Wait a minute....

If the sea ice thickness in past years was overestimated, then the apparent reduction in sea ice is at least partly a result of previous overestimates, and not the actual reduction in sea ice volume.

So get the numbers straight before whining about "decreasing sea ice".