Part of the Arctic is nicknamed the “Last Ice Area,” because floating sea ice there is usually so thick that it’s likely to withstand global warming for decades.
It’s called the Last Ice Area for a reason. It was kind of stable.
So, scientists were shocked last summer when there was suddenly enough open water for a ship to pass through.
While scientists have said most of the Arctic could be free of summer sea ice by mid-century, the Last Ice Area was not part of that equation.
The main cause for the sudden ice loss was extraordinary strong winds that pushed the ice out the region and down the coast of Greenland.
In the past, thicker Wandel Sea ice would have resisted the strong winds, but in 2020 it was thinner and “more easily broken up and pushed out.
Another part of the Last Ice Area, off Canada’s Ellesmere Island, had open waters after the July 2020 collapse of part of the Milne ice shelf.
Note:The Arctic region covers parts of eight countries: Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the United States.