Why is Arctic ice getting younger and thinner?

Temperatures in parts of the Arctic were six degrees or more above average in February. 

It's difficult to forecast with certainty the speed at which climate change will transform our planet's northern polar region, however researchers are observing that the ice is thinning rapidly, and models predict that ice-free Arctic summers are on the horizon.

In this special episode of Climate Now, we travelled to Tromsø in northern Norway to hear more from sea ice experts at the Norwegian Polar Institute. 

Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows that globally, February 2023 was the fifth-warmest on record, with temperatures 0.3° Celsius above the 1991-2020 average.

If we look at the temperature anomaly map worldwide we can see a few standout features.

Firstly, in northern Canada and parts of the western US, temperatures were several degrees below average:

In Europe, it was generally warmer - temperatures for February were 1.2° Celsius above average for the month:

And then, in dark red, above Norway and Russia, temperatures were 6° or more above average in February.

And those warmer temperatures in the Arctic last month come at a time of year when sea ice should be plentiful at the end of winter.

Sea ice extent was at its second-lowest level on record for February, and sea ice concentration was lower than average in the areas shaded in red on the map around western Siberia, and Svalbard.

At the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, inside the Arctic Circle, researchers are studying the impact of climate change on the region.

The Arctic is warming three to four times faster than the global average, and sea ice scientist Mats Granskog tells Euronews that he has witnessed the changes with his own eyes

"When I first ventured out