Ice coverage continues to expand in Bohai Sea

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The worst sea ice in east China's Bohai Sea over the past four decades continued to expand and has covered 45 percent of the waters of Bohai, the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) said on Friday.

Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2010 shows the sea ice on the seashore in  Xingcheng, northeast China's Liaoning Province. As cold fronts pushed  temperatures below minus 10 degrees Celsius, the acreage of sea ice in  Bohai Sea and Huanghai Sea increased to 41312 square meters on Friday,  6612 square meters larger than one day before. This is the worst sea  ice ever in the past 40 years and it's set to worsen until this Febrary,  according to National Marine Environmental Forcasting Center.  (Xinhua/Ren Yong)

The ice coverage was 40 percent a week ago.

According to the analysis by remote sensing, about 9,441 square kilometers of the Bohai Bay had iced up by Friday, accounting for almost 60 percent of the entire area of the bay.

Bohai Sea, due to its proximity to China's capital Beijing, is one of the busiest seaways in the world.

Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2010 shows the sea ice on the seashore in  Xingcheng, northeast China's Liaoning Province.  (Xinhua/Ren Yong)