A bit off topic here, but a question for you good folk who know a lot more about this stuff than me. There is a huge area to the south of the West Antarctic that normally would be expected to have sea ice up to the edge of the land. This year that sea ice has completely melted out. Any idea on what (if any) effect that is having on the melt rate of the ice sheet in west Antarctica?

NASA tells us that we are in a solar minimum at the moment, the sun is blank, no sunspots. That is likely to remain the case for the next few years before it again begins to increase in activity. So right now in terms of solar input of energy we are what should be another Maunder Minimum. We are in solar terms at least a mini ice age. Right now the CO2 levels are overwhelming that minimum and we are still threatening another record minimum in sea ice. With CO2 still rising, what can we expect when this temporary dip in solar activity fades. Physics tells us that the sun, as with every other star of it's type will increase in it's output over geological timescales. The deniers like to claim that CO2 has been at current levels previously, but back then the Sun was 4% cooler. Right now low solar activity is mitigating the impact, in 20 years time the increased output will enhance the effect. If we do not solve the problem now, the issues to come may make it impossible to resolve.

Smacks to me of "X is an endangered species, shoot yours now before they are all gone." approach. We have a existential problem with global warming, so they are advertising a long slow cruise in a diesel powered ship through the very area which is worst affected for 1000 very rich individuals.

Oops that should of course be "see open sea water at the pole"

From the look of that image, most of the thick(ish) ice is just queuing up to flow out the Fram strait. Noticeable also the lack of ice around Svalbard and west of NovaZ looks like all that heat that has been getting absorbed by the oceans is flowing with the gulf stream back into the arctic and hitting the growth of winter ice. With so big a head start on melting in the area this year and dark water ready to absorb sunlight will we sea open water at the pole this years?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07142ls#play The infinite Monkey Cage covers global warming.