A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic

Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at Cambridge University, explains the loss of Arctic ice in this important, if dense, discussion on the effects of climate change. In the 1970s, sea ice covered roughly eight million square kilometers of the surface of the Arctic Ocean. But by 2012 it only covered approximately 3.4 million square kilometers. Wadhams outlines the hows and whys of this dramatic change, looking at the greenhouse effect and increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Methane derives from a number of sources, including natural gas-pipeline leaks, hydraulic fracturing, agriculture, and landfills; nitrous oxide “originates mostly from the use of artificial fertilizers.” Wadhams also details the phenomenon of Arctic amplification—“the main reason why changes due to global warming happen in the Arctic first”—and its causes. Unfortunately, the book’s early chapters on “the properties of sea ice and how it forms and grows on the sea surface” and on glaciers and ice sheets prove difficult to get through. Too academic and dry, they can be hard for general audiences to decipher. Wadhams’s in-depth scientific examination undoubtedly adds to the ongoing study of polar ice caps, but his tone and approach may limit the book’s overall appeal. (Sept.)