NASA Media Briefing Provides Check-Up on Polar Sea Ice

WASHINGTON - NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, March 18, at 12 p.m. EDT, to present the latest satellite observations of changing sea ice conditions in Earth’s northern and southern polar regions.

Last September, sea ice levels reached record summertime lows in the Arctic, continuing a decades-long decline. This month, sea ice around Antarctica reaches its seasonal low point during the Southern Hemisphere summer and arctic sea ice hits its annual wintertime high. Scientists are monitoring the amount and age of sea ice to see if the declining trend persists. Of particular interest is how arctic sea ice has been affected this winter by temperatures that are slightly colder than in recent years.

The teleconference participants are:
- Josefino Comiso, Cryospheric Sciences Branch, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Seelye Martin, Cryospheric Sciences Program, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Walter Meier, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.

To participate in the teleconference, reporters must contact Steve Cole at 202-358-0918 for dial-in instructions by 5 p.m. March 17. On March 18, supporting information for the briefing will be available at 11 a.m. on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/seaice_conditions_main.html