Polar oceans transformed as warming melts ice habitats: research
Summary
Warming oceans are rapidly reshaping the polar regions, with Arctic sea ice shrinking, coastal erosion worsening and emperor penguin populations in Antarctica under threat. A new Copernicus report warns that sea ice loss could leave more than 90 percent of emperor penguin colonies near-extinct by 2100.
Key Points
- The Copernicus Ocean State Report says climate change is rapidly transforming the world's oceans, with especially severe impacts in the Arctic and Antarctic.
- Arctic combined sea surface and sea-ice temperatures rose 4.2C between 1982 and 2024, while sea ice has shrunk by nearly half a million square kilometres per decade since 1979.
- The retreat of Arctic ice is increasing coastal erosion and putting infrastructure and communities at risk.
- Record-low Antarctic sea ice in 2022 coincided with the first recorded large-scale breeding failure of emperor penguins, which are now listed as endangered.
