Tag: Arctic Ice

Earlier this year, columnist George Will sparked controversy with claims that global ice levels were the same as (if not greater than) 30 years earlier. This was part of George Will’s retread truthiness and deception in his widely syndicated columns falsely asserting that global warming is not happening.

Recent news from the Arctic makes me wonder whether George will revisit the topic from a somewhat different angle.

Greenpeace have announced a big give-away, Arctic Ice will be free to anyone who wants it in summer but only for a limited time.

The recent news in from IARC-JAXA (International Arctic Research Center / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is that in August-September 2009 that the arctic sea ice minimum exceeds that of 2005 and thus there is evidence of Global Cooling has caused much consternation in the among global warming fascisti.

Hard on the heels of this comes a British expedition to measure Arctic Ice thickness who report the thinning of sea ice.

The give-away has been organised by Greenpeace ostensibly to benefit all those green consumers who have thrown away their fridges due to worries about the Ozone layer and Global Warming only to exchange them for worries about food poisoning. On the other hand it could be seen as a neat way to reduce the sea ice and thus refute the Japanese work and cover this up by so-called good works.

“It’s the most natural way of keeping things cool” said Dawn Lovedyke the GP spokesperson and editor of the website lesbiangaia.web. “We are also planning refrigerated mercy ships to Africa and the Third World, after all everyone, without exclusion, has the right to Ice in their Budweiser even if they only eat Yam porridge.”

At a press conference having being picked up off the ice late yesterday after a trek of 435.782km, the British Catlin Arctic Survey team led by tough-guy Pen Gwynn and his companions, bulky unprepossessing Anny Portinstorm and puny scientist D.O.A. Attwork reported that ice floes were less than 1.8567m thick showing that this was first year ice, ideal for breaking up by household ice picks.

The team met many hardships during the voyage including Polar Bears sitting on ice floes and Inuit realtors angry about the team breaking up perfectly good building materials. Anny was nearly lost when she fell through the ice but was lucky enough to be thrown back by a passing sperm whale. “It was the closest enounter I’ve ever had with a Sperm before, it will stay with me for the rest of my life” she said.

[snip]

Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss: James Balog on TED.com

“Ninety five percent of the glaciers in the world are retreating or shrinking… there is no scientific dispute about that”

Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, England. Duration: 19:22)

Crossposted from Antemedius

For years as the planet warms the arctic icecap has been melting and retreating.

Many of us have long known that arctic wildlife like polar bears, gray whales, killer whales, narwhals, seals, and arctic fish and bird populations, as well as arctic coastal human settlements, are in danger of eventual extinction as their natural habitat has been retreating, but what most of us haven’t known is the extent and speed of the retreat.

Because of recent ice loss, Arctic surface air temperatures are warmer than normal, and much warmer than scientists expected to find.

As the ice has been melting the growing spans of open water absorb more sunlight than the ice previously did, so as more open water becomes uncovered, the remaining ice will melt more quickly. This will itself accelerate the rate of warming and lead to more ice loss. In addition, global climate change is likely to drive warmer ocean currents into the Arctic region.

You get the picture. What has developed is a positive feedback loop with dramatic implications for the entire Arctic, and for the rest of the planet, and for all life on Earth. It’s been nice knowing you.

The shrinkage of the Arctic ice cap is viewed with much alarm by climate researchers and scientists, as it appears to perturb important ocean currents elsewhere, notably the Gulf Stream, which gives western Europe its balmy climate.

Now a new report by scientists Muyin Wang of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean and James E. Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, is published in todays edition of the American Geophysical Union’s journal Geophysical Research Letters, forecasting nearly complete icecap loss by 2037: