Bering Sea ice at lowest levels in 5,500 years: study

In this file photo, ice breaks up early on the Kuskokwim River beside the Bering Sea and near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska in April 2019. Photo: AFP

Winter ice in the Bering Sea, in the northern Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Russia, is at its lowest levels for 5,500 years, according to a study released a week ago.

Researchers analysed vegetation that accumulated on the uninhabited island of St Matthew over the last five millennia.