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Copernicus report: polar oceans warming fast as sea ice and wildlife habitat shrink

The 10th Copernicus Ocean State Report, published 30 September, says the Arctic is warming rapidly, sea ice is shrinking and wildlife is losing habitat at both poles.

2 outlets · 0L · 1C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: The Straits Times
Image: France 24

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The story, neutrally told

An annual report released on 30 September said climate change is increasingly reshaping the polar oceans, with Arctic waters warming rapidly, sea ice shrinking and wildlife losing habitat at both ends of the planet. The Copernicus Ocean State Report also describes changes across the world's seas, including record-breaking heatwaves in the Mediterranean and Black seas, shifts in marine ecosystems and increasingly acidic waters. Pierre Bahurel, director general of Mercator Ocean International, which runs the EU's Copernicus Marine Service, said: "The message is very clear. The ocean is changing rapidly."

The report says the Arctic's combined sea surface and sea-ice surface temperature rose 4.2 deg C between 1982 and 2024, about 1 deg C per decade, against 0.12 deg C per decade for global sea surface temperatures. In the Kara Sea north of Siberia, temperatures have climbed by 6.7 deg C since 1982. Arctic sea ice has shrunk by nearly half a million square kilometres per decade since 1979, an area the size of Spain every 10 years, and the retreat exposes coasts to erosion.

Report director Karina von Schuckmann said the decline leaves around 60 per cent of coastal infrastructure vulnerable to erosion and sea level rise. In Antarctica, record-low sea ice in 2022 coincided with the first recorded large-scale breeding failure of emperor penguins, which the IUCN upgraded to "endangered" in April. The report says more than 90 per cent of emperor penguin colonies could be near-extinct by 2100 if sea ice loss continues at its current rate.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre1 outlet

Framing
A short video-page item that summarises the report's headline findings: polar change, plus heatwaves, ecosystem shifts and acidification worldwide.
Emphasis
The overall picture of change across the world's seas.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives no figures, quotes or details on Arctic temperatures, ice loss, coastal risk or penguins.
Charged language
“profound changes”
For example
“The Copernicus Ocean State Report depicts profound changes across the world's seas” — France 24

Right1 outlet

Framing
The Straits Times ran AFP copy that leads with Arctic ice loss and warming figures, then covers coastal risk and emperor penguins. It is wire text, so the wording is the agency's rather than the outlet's own.
Emphasis
Numbers on temperature rise and ice loss, risks to coastal infrastructure, and the threat to emperor penguins.
Leaves out or plays down
Says little about the report's non-polar findings beyond a brief mention of Mediterranean and Black sea heatwaves and acidification.
Charged language
“dramatic effects”“near-extinct”
For example
“Some of the more dramatic effects from global warming are taking place in the poles” — The Straits Times
“As temperatures rise, Arctic sea ice has shrunk by nearly half a million square kilometres per decade since 1979” — The Straits Times