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The 2010 was made more famous by the coverage the Photographer James Balog in his Ted talk and "Chasing Ice" documentary video. Does anyone know how this event compares to that event?
Jakobshavn calves a(nother) big one
Greenland glacier guardian Espen Olsen informed us a couple of days ago on the Forum that Jakobshavn Isbræ - Greenland's fastest glacier draining 6.5 % of the Greenland ice sheet - has had another big bite taken out of its southern branch recently. Espen made this animation to show the differenc...
It has been a somewhat nice sigh of relief to have had the amount of rain falling in northern CA. It'd take another two months of 5 day periods like these past few days to not call it a drought. The big deal should be more about that high pressure ridge that had parked itself in the North Pacific for many months. Hopefully that ridge stays always and more rain falls here. Upcoming forecasts have a couple systems skimming Northern California. Good sign.
Looking for winter weirdness 2014
There has been some stuff in the past 2 months that could be linked to erratic jet stream behaviour - which in turn could be influenced by Arctic sea ice loss - like a series of storms battering Europe's Northwest, such as the St. Jude storm at the end of October, followed in December by Xaver, ...
How much of a implication would a El Niño season with anomalous high temperatures of the Pacific have on Thermohaline circulation? Especially if the current bottlenecks near Antarctica? I'm fascinated and wary of how heat content affects currents.
Looking for winter weirdness 2014
There has been some stuff in the past 2 months that could be linked to erratic jet stream behaviour - which in turn could be influenced by Arctic sea ice loss - like a series of storms battering Europe's Northwest, such as the St. Jude storm at the end of October, followed in December by Xaver, ...
Better than drought; bring on the El Niño!
Looking for winter weirdness 2014
There has been some stuff in the past 2 months that could be linked to erratic jet stream behaviour - which in turn could be influenced by Arctic sea ice loss - like a series of storms battering Europe's Northwest, such as the St. Jude storm at the end of October, followed in December by Xaver, ...
I think people respect the jet stream more than they do of sea ice/global warming/al gore/climate change. It's actually measurable and impacts are felt almost directly. If the question becomes more of- " is that Jet Stream meandering more on a certain time scale, about the same or less?" The discussion turns more to "well, if the planet is warming and we are actually causing some natural imbalance- then what can I or we do about it?" Science is good. And it's better for people to try to understand our planet better.
The potential for a bad drought is looming large in California and it is a subject that is coming up almost daily.
Looking for winter weirdness 2014
There has been some stuff in the past 2 months that could be linked to erratic jet stream behaviour - which in turn could be influenced by Arctic sea ice loss - like a series of storms battering Europe's Northwest, such as the St. Jude storm at the end of October, followed in December by Xaver, ...
Truly fascinating. Horrifying also.
If there's a need for research support on Greenland- I'd do it.
Greenland Ice Sheet: "Starting to Slip"
Peter Sinclair from the ClimateCrocks blog has produced a new video for the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media with some good speakers:
So could meltwater actually work more towards the center of Greenland and not out to the ocean? I mean- I usually think of GIS as one thing sitting in a bowl without much meltwater underneath or should I say- beyond where melt ponds form.
I'm wondering if its possible that say the southern tip starts melting so much faster than can escape that it causes adverse affects to the GIS.
I really don't know that much, but a simple "no- because" is awesome - thanks!
Greenland Ice Sheet: "Starting to Slip"
Peter Sinclair from the ClimateCrocks blog has produced a new video for the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media with some good speakers:
I don't see how we're not on track for changes in the next 30 years. I hope we can adapt without much consequence on ourselves and the planet we call home.
When the Arctic was 8 °C warmer
You won't see it in any travel guides, probably because of its name, but Lake El'gygytgyn offers many wonders. Lately it's been in the news because of fascinating paleoclimatic data the lake has yielded to researchers drilling its bottom. They managed to extend the climatic chronology of northern...
@ Shared Humanity: I would think so.
The albedo chart is really amazing. Let's hope the NAO stays positive.
Neven, like David, I check the graphs part of the blog nearly every morning to see what's up. Invaluable. Thanks!
Greenland “snow drought” spells trouble
Hat-tip to HeisenIceBerg over on the Forum. I think most of us vividly remember last year's events on and around Greenland. It started with albedo going down considerably, causing widespread melt - at one point involving practically all of the ice sheet's surface - ending in a record mass loss...
Distribution of ice thickness through the years is disturbing.
Nice work contributors!
PIOMAS April 2013 - extra update
The Polar Science Center has released some extra PIOMAS gridded data that allows smart bunnies like Wipneus and Chris Reynolds to show how ice thickness is distributed around the Arctic. Here's a thickness distribution map made by Wipneus that shows the difference between March 2012 and March th...
A-Team- great animation and description of how you got there. Some of us are looking to animate more and it helps that you did this.
How will we know if the Nares Straight ice bridge has failed? What instrument are we looking at to signal this event?
Arctic freezing season ends with a loud crack
This is a guest blog I wrote for Climate Progress and Skeptical Science. You may use it as a new open thread to discuss the cracking event. I will try and do a more detailed winter analysis in April, if Allah and time permit. --- The sea ice cap on top of the Arctic Ocean is often imagined to ...
Modern *era
Crack is bad for you (and sea ice)
The previous pun - cracks of dawn - was wearing off, and the comment section was getting full, so here's a new pun and blog post dedicated to the cracking event that started in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas a couple of weeks ago, and then moved on to the multi-year ice against the Canadian Archi...
Espen- I was just looking at that image as well and was amazed- does anyone know when the last time this particular area had seen cracks this size?
wouldn't this be "unprecedented" in our modern area?
Crack is bad for you (and sea ice)
The previous pun - cracks of dawn - was wearing off, and the comment section was getting full, so here's a new pun and blog post dedicated to the cracking event that started in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas a couple of weeks ago, and then moved on to the multi-year ice against the Canadian Archi...
SkS?
Crack is bad for you (and sea ice)
The previous pun - cracks of dawn - was wearing off, and the comment section was getting full, so here's a new pun and blog post dedicated to the cracking event that started in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas a couple of weeks ago, and then moved on to the multi-year ice against the Canadian Archi...
Amazing animations A Team and kudos for contributors for keeping the blog/forum on topic. It's quite fascinating to read through. You know you're doing good when outside influences start citing.
I definitely consider myself an amateur. I'll keep on lurking and see if I can pick up books and understanding along the way - to somehow contribute would be great.
Crack is bad for you (and sea ice)
The previous pun - cracks of dawn - was wearing off, and the comment section was getting full, so here's a new pun and blog post dedicated to the cracking event that started in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas a couple of weeks ago, and then moved on to the multi-year ice against the Canadian Archi...
Craig Merry is now following A-Team

Mar 16, 2013
Do the graphs in the original post discern between ice age? I would expect th MYI would show a decline at least.
Perhaps it's easier for the ice to form when it's closer to freezing or a streak of temperatures in certain near-freezing areas to cause a overall reading of more ice? In a way the volume uptick does not surprise me. There's a lot of variables to consider in projections - but I think we're headed to a ice-free arctic this year or next.
PIOMAS March 2013
Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Excellent news! The trend line has crept up some more and 2013 now has 133 km3 more ice than 2012 an...
Great posts here. Fascinating. Keep it up.
Neven, I believe it's a bit too late for models to concentrate on the "when" and focus on a world without -at least- MYI in the Arctic and vulnerable masses that could rise sea levels quickly in a short amount of time. As a Poli Sci major working in government, we have not done enough to prepare for at least the next decade.
The cracks of dawn
I was hesitating whether I should write about this (besides my personal combination of busy/lazy) for a couple of days, because the Arctic is such an amazing place that it's easy to get carried away. When you see something for the first time, it's tempting to go: "Oh my Gawd, that haz got to b...
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Mar 8, 2013
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