A new study details how part of the Arctic nicknamed the “Last Ice Area” suddenly melted a bit in the summer of 2020. And researchers say climate change was partly to blame. The open waters north of Greenland are usually clogged with thick sea ice. Thursday’s study says last year, it melted enough for an icebreaker to plow through. Scientists did calculations and figured that 80% of the ice loss is due to a freak natural wind event pushing the ice down Greenland’s coast, but 20% of the problem comes decades of climate change thinning Arctic sea ice. Thinner ice is blown out of the area easier.
