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Regarding geo-engineering:
We're already doing that. We're geo-engineering a new climate using a few very simple molecules in a distributed setup. It should be apparent to anyone advocating this same mechanism as a countermeasure just how unimaginably difficult it is, how much resources it consumes, how long it takes and how many hidden feedback systems there can be.
And before we try to model a solution with a novel kind of geo-engineering maybe, I dunno, we could try to get a grip on this one and develop models with a margin of error that is less than 5 decades.
"Just reduce CO2" was kinda too difficult, or too expensive, or not profitable, or Obama is a socialist, or it'll delay the new iPhone.
Face it folks, this is old-school Darwinism. And you're part of a gene pool that's just not fit.
PIOMAS April 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: The good news from last month stands unwavered. The 2013 trend line has stuck to those of 2011 and 2...
Isn't this an expansion of the stable high-pressure zone over Greenland that was discussed last year? The one that first reared its head in 2007. The same that is arguably responsible for the U.S. drought? The one that's been dubbed the "climatological north pole"?
If so it looks like it's here to stay and emerge for an extended period of time each year.
Looking for winter weirdness 6
I wasn't expecting another instalment in this year's series of blog posts on Winter Weirdness, extreme weather events that could be linked to the decline in Arctic sea ice. It's not even winter anymore officially. But as spring has been revoked in large parts of Europe, and the atmospheric blo...
FYI: if that huge fracture occurred at night with a clear sky it should have been picked up by optical satellites. Thing to look up: Fractoluminescence. You can try it with a hammer and a sugar cube or ice cube in the dark.
CryoSat-2 reveals major Arctic sea-ice loss
We knew that observations by the CryoSat-2 satellite were by and large confirming the modeled data from the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center, because of the recent publication in GRL of Laxon et al.'s CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea i...
Thanks for the info, all. I was under the impression that the data came from multiple sources or was supported by a validation in one way or another.
It's weird that of all the high tech gear up there only a fraction trickles into public data. This reminds me of the mid-atlantic ridge, the hidden thesis of plate tectonics, which turned out to have been discovered and mapped by military submarines well before academia first observed it.
2013 Open thread #1
I was planning on writing posts more regularly, but reality forbids. So here's an open thread for all of your off-topic banter. source: Space Daily Will be back next week when I get an Internet connection in our new apartment. There's plenty to write about: that science report, the lower albe...
Arctic Sea Ice Monitor just took a 0.5 mln dive.
2013 Open thread #1
I was planning on writing posts more regularly, but reality forbids. So here's an open thread for all of your off-topic banter. source: Space Daily Will be back next week when I get an Internet connection in our new apartment. There's plenty to write about: that science report, the lower albe...
re fake skeptics: put them on a list. In the not so far future we'll have to decide who gets rations and who doesn't. The people on the list can wait at the end of the queue.
Looking for winter weirdness 5
From WattsUpWithThat (via Pierre Gosselin and Marc Morano): Increased evaporation combined with more heat loss in the Arctic due to a record low amount of Arctic sea ice is the likely cause. The likely cause of this: This graph is made and updated by the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab. Th...
They _will_ be creative and innovative, very much so. Oil exploration consists of a collection of different techniques. Some techniques have been tried but proven too expensive/elaborate/slow and have been archived and collecting dust for occasions just like this.
It's better to look at it as a junkie scheming for ways to get hold of some junk for the next fix, nothing is sacred.
Shell drill spill?
It all sounds so simple: Arctic sea ice is retreating, so let's get over there and start some off-shore drilling! Unfortunately the Arctic isn't a friendly place, not to humans and not to oil executives. Commenter Lodger links to this ominous news article about the Kulluk, "a $290 million off...
On a related note: anyone know what to tell a 6 year old who just saw on the news that the location of Santa's factory is now an ocean? I'd like to know whether parents have reached consensus on a plot twist in this lie.
Looking for winter weirdness 4
Here's a small one, related to the previous winter weirdness post. Apparently China is also experiencing a colder winter than usual. Allow me to just copypaste the entire article from China Daily: China's cold winter linked to Arctic sea ice loss The unusually cold winter this year in China m...
"... the Chinese are eyeing a new shipping route through the Arctic"
The problem is that everybody's eyeing an open Arctic shipping opportunity. And that's when it becomes a whole new game: economy will (start to) rely on an open Arctic and when there's a fluke year of a more closed one there'll be economic backlash due to higher transport costs.
Also: any info of how the high over the Canadian Archipelago will affect to ongoing drought in the U.S.?
Looking for winter weirdness 4
Here's a small one, related to the previous winter weirdness post. Apparently China is also experiencing a colder winter than usual. Allow me to just copypaste the entire article from China Daily: China's cold winter linked to Arctic sea ice loss The unusually cold winter this year in China m...
... before people start accusing me of alarmism or hype ...
Your target audience for this blog (correct me if I'm wrong) are researchers - professional or amateur. I think the more appropriate caveat/disclaimer here is "cherry picking" instead of alarmism. And no, you're not. I enjoy these posts and the comments that follow.
If the trend over the U.K. continues for the future maybe they will become an exporter of rainwater. According to most scenarios that will become a rather scarce and lucrative resource. No, I'm not kidding.
Looking for winter weirdness 3
It's been a while since we had a first couple of signs of winter weirdness, back in October, when superstorm Sandy took a 90 degree left turn due to a ridge of blocking highs along southern Greenland, and some cold air spilled from the central Arctic over Europe, bringing very early snow to the ...
Since I started following this blog i have been feeling an urge to stock up on rice and pasta. This latest thread makes me wonder how I'm going to move that stuff to a new location without letting it get wet.
2012 Greenland records
Thanks go out to commenter Lanevn for bringing this to our attention. Some of the data concerning last summer's impact on the Greenland ice sheet has been released in a first paper by M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, T Mote, J. Wahr, P. Alexander, J. Box, and B. Wouters: Evidence and analysis of 2012 G...
This probably show my inexperience with the subject but here's my suggestion.
We already had a thread about micro-organisms forming small colonies on the ice. Take pictures: which organisms are there (can they be identified from microscopy images ?) or try to put a number on their density/activity (like a sperm count). Mark the gps coordinates for follow-ups.
The last ice expedition
Yesterday I received an e-mail from climate journalist, film maker and polar explorer Bernice Notenboom, the first Dutch woman to have reached the South Pole: I am a polar explorer and in the spring of 2013 we plan to ski from the North Pole to Ward Hunt Island on Ellesmere. We would love to ...
Somewhere in S.E Asia there's a freak butterfly just minding it's own business.
[ducks]
Looking for winter weirdness
The Arctic is refreezing fast. Trend lines that were way below all other years for weeks on end have returned to the pack, as can be seen on the Daily graphs page of the Arctic Sea Ice Graphs website. Of course, there's still much more open water now than during the long-term average, and so we ...
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