The change in sea ice dynamics, and the future of marine birds and mammals

Among the consequences of climate change, the sea-ice coverage is changing fast. But is it increasing or decreasing ? Is the trend established on the long term, or are its dynamics more complex ? Is it changing at the same pace and in the same direction at both poles ?

Satellite images of Arctic (left) and Antarctic (right) sea ice cover in August 2017 compared to the 1979-2000 average (blue line). Images from ClimateReanalyzer.org

And above all, how will it affect the remarkable biodiversity adapted to these polar regions ?

This is the core of the SenSeI project, a multidisciplinary approach to the question involving people of several countries, labs, institutes, on both poles, in order to track the reaction of wild marine mammals and birds to the dynamics of sea-ice. Christophe Barbraud and Yan Ropert-Coudert from Chizé CEBC – CNRS are the principal investigators : visit their site !


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