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Arctic sea ice loss linked to personal CO2 emissions

By Guest PostNovember 15, 2016EnvironmentArctic, dirk notz, global warming, julienne stroeve, loss, personal co2 emissions, sea ice, sea ice disappears, summer sea ice

Three square metres of Arctic summer sea ice disappears for every tonne of carbon dioxide a person emits, wherever they are on the planet, according to new UCL research. (more…)

On Golden’s ice pond

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2016Environmentcolumnar sea ice, ice cores, ice dwelling algae, life of ice, sea ice

From the National Science Foundation

Oceanographers, marine biologists and geologists are the scientists most commonly associated with studying changes in sea ice. But these days, it just might be a mathematician drilling ice cores in the Antarctic. (more…)

Stronger winds explain puzzling growth of sea ice in Antarctica

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2013Environmentantarctic sea ice, Antarctica, atmosphere, axel schweiger, dynamic change, global climate models, jinlun zhang, model experiment, modeling study, natural cycle, ozone depletion, puzzling growth, sea ice, south pole, southern hemisphere, Southern Ocean, stronger winds, thick ice, university of washington, variability, warming climate

Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there’s more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s – a fact often pounced on by global warming skeptics. The latest numbers suggest the Antarctic sea ice may be heading toward a record high this year.

While changes in weather may play a big role in short-term changes in sea ice seen in the past couple of months, changes in winds have apparently led to the more general upward sea ice trend during the past few decades, according to University of Washington research. A new modeling study to be published in the Journal of Climate shows that stronger polar winds lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice, even in a warming climate. (more…)

Santa’s workshop not flooded – but lots of melting in the Arctic

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Environmentalaskan coast, arctic ice, axel schweiger, canada basin, cracks, holes, jamie morison, melt season, melting in arctic, meltwater, normal cycle, north pole, ocean data, researchers, sea ice, sea ice volume, tracking tool, university of washington

Santa’s workshop at the North Pole is not under water, despite recent reports. A dramatic image captured by a University of Washington monitoring buoy reportedly shows a lake at the North Pole. But Santa doesn’t yet need to buy a snorkel.

“Every summer when the sun melts the surface the water has to go someplace, so it accumulates in these ponds,” said Jamie Morison, a polar scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and principal investigator since 2000 of the North Pole Environmental Observatory. “This doesn’t look particularly extreme.” (more…)

Global Warming will Open Unexpected New Shipping Routes in Arctic, UCLA Researchers Find

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2013EnvironmentArctic, arctic lakes, arctic ocean, asia, atlantic ocean, coast of russia, eastern canada, global temperature, global warming, icebreakers, independent climate forecasts, Japan, laurence c smith, new shipping routes, north pole, northern sea route, pacific, panama canal, polar class 6, projected shipping lanes, rotterdam, scott r stephenson, sea ice, shipping potential, suez, the netherlands, trans arctic, ucla researchers, vessels, yokohama

Shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer, new UCLA research shows.

“The development is both exciting from an economic development point of view and worrisome in terms of safety, both for the Arctic environment and for the ships themselves,” said lead researcher Laurence C. Smith, a professor of geography at UCLA. (more…)

CryoSat-2 Mission Reveals Major Arctic Sea-Ice Loss

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2013Environmentalfred wegener institute, aperture radar altimeter, Arctic, Arctic sea ice, assimilation system, autumn, canadian archipelago, cracks, cryosat 2 satellite, data, energy, european space agency, german aerospace center, greenland, high resolution, ice ocean modelling, ice thickness, icesat satellite, jet propulsion laboratory, katharine giles, microwave, modelling, NASA, pan arctic, piomas, polar observation, pulse, sea ice, seymour laxon, svalbard, synthetic, uk, university of washington, volume, york university

Arctic sea ice volume has declined by 36 per cent in the autumn and 9 per cent in the winter between 2003 and 2012, a UK-led team of scientists has discovered.

Researchers from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at UCL used new data from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite spanning 2010 to 2012, and data from NASA’s ICESat satellite from 2003 to 2008 to estimate the volume of sea ice in the Arctic. (more…)

USGS-NOAA: Climate Change Impacts to U.S. Coasts Threaten Public Health, Safety and Economy

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2013Environmentalaskan coastal zone, climate change, coastal ecosystems, coastal watershed, coastal zone, congress, current environmental stresses, currents, ecological changes, economic, effects, erosion, flooding, flooding related hazards, great lakes, gulf of mexico, hawaii, Health, heat related morbidity, island territories, low lying parts, margaret davidson, mid atlantic, national climate assessment, natural systems, new jersey shore, noaa, northern alaska, permafrost, public hazard, sandy and katrina, scientific data, sea ice, sea-level rise, social, southern california beach, species, storm surge flooding, storms, sunset, threaten, u.s economy, U.S. Geological Survey, united states, us coast, us coastal communities, usgs, virginia burkett, vitality

According to a new technical report, the effects of climate change will continue to threaten the health and vitality of U.S. coastal communities’ social, economic and natural systems.

The report, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment, authored by leading scientists and experts, emphasizes the need for increased coordination and planning to ensure U.S. coastal communities are resilient against the effects of climate change. (more…)

Cassini Suggests Icing on a Lake

By Guest PostJanuary 9, 2013Scienceair on titan, atmosphere, cassini mission, change, cornell university, cycle of precipitation, ethane, evaporation, floating ice, hydrocarbon ice, icing, ithaca, jason hofgartner, jonathan lunine, lake, linda spilker, liquid hydrocarbon, liquid methane, methane, model, moon, NASA, nitrogen gas, northern hemisphere, organic molecule, origin, pasadena, radio energy, saturn, sea, sea ice, southern hemisphere, surfaces of lakes, temperature, terrestrial life, titan, water

It’s not exactly icing on a cake, but it could be icing on a lake. A new paper by scientists on NASA’s Cassini mission finds that blocks of hydrocarbon ice might decorate the surface of existing lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbon on Saturn’s moon Titan. The presence of ice floes might explain some of the mixed readings Cassini has seen in the reflectivity of the surfaces of lakes on Titan.

“One of the most intriguing questions about these lakes and seas is whether they might host an exotic form of life,” said Jonathan Lunine, a paper co-author and Cassini interdisciplinary Titan scientist at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. “And the formation of floating hydrocarbon ice will provide an opportunity for interesting chemistry along the boundary between liquid and solid, a boundary that may have been important in the origin of terrestrial life.” (more…)

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