China is sending an icebreaking research vessel to the Bohai Sea’s ice zone to explore how rapid changes affect weather and climate.
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The expedition, which started on Saturday and is led by Sun Yat-sen University, is the country’s first winter survey of the gulf off northern China to cover the development and melting of its winter ice.
Science and Technology Daily said on Saturday that as well as the studying the environmental and ecological impact of changes to sea ice, the expedition would test research equipment in a near-polar environment.
Forecasts from the Polar Research Centre at Sun Yat-sen University predict that ice in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly melting and, without intervention, the Arctic could experience a “summer without ice” in just five years.
This threatens the stability of the Arctic climate and could alter wind and ocean current patterns, potentially triggering more extreme weather events worldwide.
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“The research team [will focus] on the thermal and dynamic impacts of the atmosphere and ocean on the formation and melting processes of Bohai Sea ice,” the project leader, Cheng Xiao, told Science and Technology Daily.
“We will also investigate the mechanisms by which these processes affect the aquatic environment, build a Bohai Sea ice ecological dynamics model, and explore the potential seasonal impacts of sea ice on the Bohai Sea ecosystem.”