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?

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.

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.

Better than drought; bring on the El Niño!

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.

Truly fascinating. Horrifying also. If there's a need for research support on Greenland- I'd do it.

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!

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.

@ 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!

Distribution of ice thickness through the years is disturbing. Nice work contributors!

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?

Modern *era

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?

SkS?

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.

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.

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.