Thinner and thinner banquisa

1990/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Klima

In the last ten years, the archaic banquisa has thinned two meters according to Dr. Peter Wadhams of the University of Cambridge. The banquisa, located in northern Greenland, had a thickness of 6.5 meters in 1976 and only 4.5 meters in 1987.

The consequence of this thinning of the banquisa will be the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. The reason is that many of the atmospheric CO2 dissolve on _the ocean surface and when the ocean water freezes at the poles, the ice pours salt into the water. Salt and heavy water sinks into the Arctic with dissolved _CO2.

If the banana thins, therefore, the annual amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) trapped will be decreasing, increasing the greenhouse effect.