Arctic Sea Ice Thickness Distribution as an Indicator of Arctic Climate Change - Synthesis of Model Results and Observations

The Arctic region is an integral part of the Earth’s climate system through its influence on global surface energy and moisture fluxes and on atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Within the Arctic, its sea ice cover is possibly the most sensitive indicator of the polar amplified global warming and of the state of Arctic climate system as a whole. Hence changes in Arctic climate and the decline of multi-year sea ice cover have significant ramifications to the entire pan-Arctic region and beyond. Having the recorded average global surface temperature about 0.54°C (0.96°F) above the 20th Century average the decade of 2000-2009 has been the warmest of the 130-year record, with the maximum positive temperatures anomalies in the northern high latitude regions. Satellite records of the Arctic sea ice show a decreasing and accelerating trend in ice extent and concentration since the late 1979, as a result of the global warming. More importantly there is growing evidence that the Arctic sea ice thickness and volume have been decreasing at even faster rate. This means that our knowledge of the Arctic sea ice melt might be significantly biased due to the interpretation of 2-dimensional sea ice extent / concentration records only instead of ice thickness and volume.