Scientists from Norway who are now studying the Arctic sea ice believe that permanent ice sheets are now replaced by thiner, "young" ice covers that disappear during the summer season, can also apparently worsen the effects of global warming.

Researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute believe that this event has not been observed and analyzed enough by scientists where the Norwegian government sent a ship called The Lance on a two year mission called the Norwegian Young Sea ICE Cruise.

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This exploration involved a unique investiagation where scientists allowed their ship to become frozen with the ice near the northern Norwegian island of Nordaustlandet from Novemeber 2014 to March 2015 to monitor the ice movement.

Scientists from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Center now report that since March, the Arctic sea ice apparently decreased to its lowest level ever recorded, using satellite data.

However, the Norwegian scientists believe that this change has even more serious implications. The insitute explains that over the past 25 years, this is not just an indication of sea ice cover losses but this existing ice has been transformed into a multiyear ice system into a seasonal system.

Scientists from Norway noted that that this young, recently formed "young ice" is reflective of more solar energy at about 10 percent more than thicker ice once did. Now, half of this solar energy is absorbed by the ice which makes it melt more quickly. The other half is now absorbed by the Arctic ocean that also raises temperatures as well. This phenomenon can aggravate the rate of climate change due to the immediate ice cover changes.

Apart from this solar energy melting the ice covers and increasing ocean temperatures than normal, this temporary ice is also a threat to the biological diversity in the Arctic.

According to Norwegian biologist Haakon Hop, there is less life under the first year ice meaning multi year ice are deeper, holding more complex organisms and animal life. For example, crustaceans, amphipods and copepods' biodiversity will now dwindle including their biomass in Arctic regions that have been measured.

TagsNorwegian Young Sea ICE Cruise, Norwegian Polar Institute, The Lance, Arctic mission ship, Norway, Arctic ice sheets, Arctic ice climate change