Researchers studying the long-term effects of climate change are warning that a recent NOAA decision to discontinue an atmospheric dataset will disrupt their monitoring of sea ice and create a gap in crucial observations of Arctic ice thickness.
The researchers say NOAA’s termination of the dataset on March 18 weakens one of the world’s leading models of long-term changes in ice thickness and scientists’ ability to project future changes.
“Any gap in this dataset would reduce our ability to assess long-term trends in Arctic sea-ice thickness,” Zack Labe, a climate scientist and sea ice expert with the nonprofit Climate Central, said in an email.
Dwindling Arctic sea ice is one of the clearest signals of climate change, scientists say. Scientists have documented decades of declining sea ice coverage, which measures the surface expanse, and recently found that this past winter it hit the lowest level ever observed at this time of year in the 48-year satellite record.
