The extent of sea ice varies greatly from year to year, but when you look over a longer period of time, you can still see a clear trend. In a hundred years, the extent of ice in the Baltic Sea, which includes the Gulf of Bothnia, has decreased by an average of 6,000 square kilometers per decade.
The fluctuations between different years, between hard and mild ice winters, are great. But in the Luleå archipelago, the ice still lays every winter. Ice roads are plowed up so that it is possible to drive out to the islands.
Durability has deteriorated
But both archipelago residents and those who work to keep the ice roads open feel that the ice is of poorer quality in the past.
– It has become more stupid. We have to work more on building up the ice roads so that they become sustainable, compared to 20 years ago, says Robert Backlund.
Hear entrepreneur Robert Backlund, who works to keep the ice road to Hindersön open, in the clip above.
