sea-ice

Report Today Details Abrupt Climate Change Surprises

The White House released a report this morning from the Council of Economic Advisers that shows the consequences of not doing something about climate change NOW. Our sister publication, CleanTechnica, has the full story, along with a word from noted Penn State climatologist Michael E. Mann. One important section of the report discusses a number of

National Climate Assessment Pulls No Punches About US Options

(All figures are from the 2014 National Climate Assessment draft.) Later today (Tuesday, May 6), at 8 a.m. EDT, the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee of experts meets by conference call to approve the final version of the Third National Climate Assessment. The gist of their message, as Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian

Save Polar Bears By Reducing Driving Speeds

Sea ice has been in a decline recently, and that is very bad news for polar bears. They conduct much of their lives on sea ice, including locating mates and reproducing. ‘Sea ice extent averaged for the month of April 2013 was 14.37 million square kilometers (5.54 million square miles). This is 630,000 square kilometers

The Arctic Lost US-Sized Sea Ice in 2012

The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation has released it’s provisional annual statement on the state of the global climate and it shows that, if things keep going as they have for the first 10 months of the year, 2012 will join the ranks of warmest years on record that have been filled by the years 2001

Antarctica and Arctic Polar Opposites

  Never let it be said that planet Earth made life easy for its scientists. A new NASA study has shown that, while the Arctic has been losing ice each summer, Antarctica has been gaining ice. “There’s been an overall increase in the sea ice cover in the Antarctic, which is the opposite of what

1.5 Million Years of Climate History Revealed

Scientists from the University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences have announced a major breakthrough in a decades old debate, the understanding of our planet’s climate machine, by reconstructing a highly accurate record of changes in ice volume and deep-ocean temperatures over the last 1.5 million years. The results of this study offer insights into a

Weddell Sea Covered in Ice

Scientists working with NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne research campaign started their third year of survey flights and captured this image of the sea ice covering the Weddell Sea.

Satellite Imagery of Arctic Sea Ice Second Lowest Extent (VIDEOS)

On September 9 scientists from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed satellite data that capped summertime sea ice coverage at the second lowest ever recorded since records were first kept. Seen below marked out in yellow is the 30 year average, while the red line represents the opening of the Northwest Passage shipping lane.

Animals on Antarctic Seabed Suffer from Climate Change

In one of those research studies that exposes an area of change that you would have never expected, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey have found that colonies of tiny marine creatures living on Antarctica’s seabed are suffering from climate change as a result of the increase in frequency of icebergs pounding the seafloor.

Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent Imagery and Video

As reported yesterday the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that the Arctic sea ice minimum extent would come in as second lowest since recording began back in 1979. Now, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has provided their own series of images and videos to back up that report, showing the extent of Arctic sea ice for September 9, 2011.

No Tipping Points for Arctic Sea Ice Loss

A growing body of scientific evidence has led researchers to believe that in a warmer climate there will be no “tipping point” beyond which the Arctic sea ice cannot recover if temperatures start to decrease. Added to this is new research out of the University of Washington which suggests that even if the planet warmed enough to melt all polar sea ice, it could still recover if the temperatures cooled again.

Canadian Arctic Barrier Islands from Space

The Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite captured this image of a barrier island facing the Beaufort Sea, on the northern edge of Canada’s Northwest Territories on June 23, 2004, before the ice had melted or retreated during the summer thaw.

The Arctic Sea Ice

“Lots of people think of the Arctic as just a flat expanse of white. This couldn’t be further from the truth. There are all sorts of cracks (leads) and mountains (ridges), similar to tectonic plates. The ice below is constantly moving via the winds and currents, and those forces acting on each piece of ice makes for a very dramatic seascape”

Lowest Ever Arctic Maximum Ice Extent

The seven lowest maximum Arctic sea ice extent measurements have all taken place in the last seven years, and 2011 is no different, according to the most recent satellite measurements taken by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. “I’m not surprised by the new data because we’ve seen

More Turbulent Arctic in Our Future

Scientists believe that the more severe winters suffered by the UK over the past few years are a result of disappearing ice in the Arctic sea. A reduction in sea ice, they explain, could be the reason for the colder winters, which up until recently have been insulating temperature changes in the sea from the atmosphere.

McMurdo Sound Free of Sea Ice

2011 is the first year since NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, which launched on NASA’s Terra satellite in late 1999, has seen the tip of Hut Point Peninsula in McMurdo Sound, free of sea ice. The images below show the same location in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Ghostly Sea Ice Surrounds Shikotan

NASA’s Image of the Day recently showcased an image of Ostrov Shikotan (or Shikotan-to), a volcanic island at the southern end of the Kuril chain, lying along the extreme southern edge of winter sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)satellite captured this natural-color image of Shikotan on February

Climate Variation During Greenhouse Conditions

Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, have concluded that man-made global warming would probably not greatly change the influence had on the environment by inter-annual climate instances such as El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Arctic Oscillation/ North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/ NAO). “Even in the warm Cretaceous period, the patterns

Decreasing Sea Ice Risk for Pregnant Polar Bears

Researchers from the University of Alberta have shown a linkage between declining polar bear litter sizes and the declining sea ice. Using data collected since the 1990s, University of Alberta researchers Péter Molnár, from the Department of Biological Sciences and colleagues Andrew Derocher and Mark Lewis analysed how long the Hudson Bay is frozen over

December 2010: Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Extent in Satellite Record

The disinformers like to focus on where it’s cold, which happens to be where most of the people of, but where it’s hot looks to be more consequential, given the impacts of melting ice in both the Arctic and Greenland. That’s part of a piece on Climate Progress regarding the latest news concerning sea ice

Hybridization Good and Bad for Arctic Mammals

The seasonal loss of ice in the Arctic which scientists believe will eventually lead to ice-free summers could have both beneficial and negative effects for the mammals that have over millennia adapted to life in the cold and harsh environment, according to a new research paper published in the December 15 issue of the journal

No Tipping Points in Polar Bears' Future

Much has been made about the possibility of tipping points in Earth’s environment; points of change which will not allow for any turning back no matter the effort put in. One of the most hyped of these was the Arctic and the possibility of a total loss of ice during summer. A new study led

Why Antarctic Sea Ice is Growing

Unfortunately, rather than delve into the science, any time a climate change denier sees a statement that seems to go against the massive amount of scientific data and information showing that global weirding is happening, they cling to it with all their might and say, “Look! Look! The climate scientists are wrong!” If only we

An Ice-Free Arctic Ocean Will Not Absorb More CO2

An international team of climate and ocean scientists, led by Wei-Jun Cai (U of Georgia, Athens), predicts that the “Arctic Ocean basin will not become a large atmospheric CO2 sink under ice-free conditions.” Using data from a 2008 high-resolution survey of the entire Canada Basin, the team explains the complex “air-sea flux” and other reasons why sea-surface CO2 continues to increase.

Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Third Lowest in History

The 2010 Arctic sea ice minimum extent appears to be the third lowest in recorded history, reaching out only 4.76 million square kilometres (1.84 million square miles). While the minimum extent is still greater than the first and second lowest minimum extent’s – 2007 and 2008 – this year’s minimum is still well below the

Is the Arctic Ice Getting Thinner

Forecasts indicate that this year’s sea ice minimum, set to peak in September, will not be as low in 2007 which itself was the year that saw the Arctic sea ice at its smallest on record. But scientists are still concerned, and as a result are measuring the ice thickness north and east of Greenland.

'Devastating Climate Shock' Needed to Spur Climate Change Policy

In his alarm-ringing NY Times op-ed on Climate Change, professor Homer-Dixon* draws a comparison with the 2008 financial “meltdown” which finally led to new financial regulations, even though warnings of a housing bubble (and an emerging recession) were being made prior to the crisis. He advocates societies designing a contingency plan (‘Plan Z’ ) to deal with the immediate after-effects of one or more climate change disasters.

Arctic Floor Ready to be Mapped

Arctic waters long frozen will be chartered for the first time in over 50 years in an attempt to update nautical charts. As Arctic ice recedes farther each year countries are looking to send their ships over the top of the world through safer and more efficient sea routes. NOAA has responded to requests to

NOAA: Hottest May, Spring, & January-May on Record

Almost every month this year is setting a new record as the hottest, according to the NOAA. [social_buttons] Yes, it wasn’t long ago I was writing about April being the hottest April and Jan-April being the hottest Jan-April on record. Now, the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center has published its next monthly “State of the Climate

Russian Winds Reducing Arctic Sea Ice

The diminishing Arctic sea ice cover has largely been blamed on climate change and human global warming. New research from Norway suggests this may not be the case. [social_buttons]The past 30 years have seen the ice cover surrounding the North Pole diminish significantly, specifically within the last decade. Many experts, including the UN Intergovernmental Panel

Extensive Release of Methane Gas from Arctic Shelf Confirmed

A research team confirms “extensive out-gassing of methane to the atmosphere” over the Eastern Siberian Arctic Shelf, and confirm its source to be venting from sea-bed sediments. Though acknowledging their findings do not seriously alter climate change predictions, the team also asserts that the sub-sea permafrost layer is failing and advise more urgent investigation.

Arctic Sea Ice Season Underscores Accelerating Decline

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent for the year, the second-lowest extent recorded since the dawn of the satellite era. While above the record minimum Arctic sea ice extent set on September 16, 2007, this year further reinforces the strong

Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks by an Amount Bigger than Alaska in August

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Following a record rate of ice loss through the month of August, Arctic sea ice extent already stands as the second-lowest on record, further reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline. With approximately two weeks left in

The Arctic Becomes an Island, Hurting Wildlife

For the first time in recorded human history, the Arctic has become an island to itself, completely separate from the landmasses that the Arctic ice normally stretches out onto. This distressingly historic event has been captured by NASA satellites, depicting both the Northwest and Northeast passages as ice free. For the past few years we

Arctic Breakup Growing Each Week

Fears about the Arctic melting away during northern summers are proving to be far from unfounded, with the latest reports rolling in from Alaska and Greenland showing disturbing trends. New shipping lanes are opening up through what were once icy seas near Alaska, and glaciers that have so far withstood much of what the environment

Minimum Ice Record Unlikely for 2008

Over the past 12 months there has been one big fear lingering over the environmental community. It was a year ago that we were watching the Arctic ice disappearing at a tremendous rate, and saw it slip to its lowest levels in recorded history. Subsequently, we also saw the complete opening of the Northwest Passage

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