Hi Crandles, Thanks for the comments. I was particularly interested in the recent Antarctic (& Greenland) study b/c of the recent excitement in 'camp denial' after the record high Antarctic ice extent was announced. Is that extent record based on a combination of sea ice and land ice then? With the sea ice portion expanding/contracting and leading to the yearly change? From the recent study, though, if volume is decreasing and a significant portion of that loss is from land ice, then that would have more serious consequences for sea level rise, yes? With some of the sea temp anomalies we have seen up in the northern hemisphere, it will be interesting to see what the melting season looks like down south. I assume there is more energy in the system down there, too? Thanks again. & thanks also to Nevin and all the contributors to this blog. I am learning a lot and I appreciate your contributions. IR

I would be interested in a discussion of the 2012 record Antarctic extent compared to the analysis released today and referred to above which shows a volume reduction over time. How are these explained given our current warming overall? I have seen some of the info explaining the increase in Antarctic extent (increased winds, ozone hole, etc.), but I still don’t really have a clear understanding of the extent increase in 2012. Is the ice flattening and spreading?

Aaron Lewis, thank you for the detailed post concerning water vapor. Question (tried to answer online): what is insolution?

Very interesting post over at Chris Reynolds' blog: http://dosbat.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/summer-daze-arctic-dipole.html

Thank you all for this site. I am learning a lot. Did not see this posted, but it appears another cyclone is on tap: http://arctic-news.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/arctic-cyclone-warning-for-september-7.html