The new evidence — including satellite data showing that the average multiyear wintertime
sea ice cover in the Arctic in 2005 and 2006 was nine feet thick, a significant decline from the 1980s — contradicts data cited in widely circulated reports by Washington Post columnist George F. Will that sea ice in the Arctic has not significantly declined since 1979.
This would explain the expansion of the Arctic
sea ice cover in those years, according to the new study.
What the researchers did was to feed the computer with data, gradually reducing
the sea ice cover in the eastern Arctic from 100 percent to 1 percent in order to analyse the relative sensitivity of wintertime atmospheric circulation.
A new study for the first time found links between the rapid loss of snow and
sea ice cover in the Arctic and a recent spate of exceptional extreme heat events in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Regionally, we expect a more reduced
sea ice cover in the East Siberian / Alaskan regions compared to the Atlantic facing region (Svalbard, Franz Josef)
The high probability of above average temperature in the Barents and Kara seas is a response to the low
sea ice cover in the forecasts.
Four or five million years ago, the extent of
sea ice cover in Arctic was much smaller than it is today.
The average
sea ice cover in February was 5.66 million square miles (14.66 million square kilometers), the seventh - lowest on record for the month.
Ola M. Johannessen, Elena V. Shalina, Martin W. Miles, «Satellite evidence for an Arctic
sea ice cover in transformation,» Science 286:1937 - 1939 (3 December 1999).
Sea ice cover in the Arctic — which should be reaching its maximum in a couple of weeks — last month stood at a record low for the second consecutive month.
For Core PS2200 - 5, relative abundance of ostracode species Acetabulastoma arcticum, indicative for perennial
sea ice cover in the central Arctic Ocean46, are shown (cf., Supplementary Fig. 8).
The new studies, which are both published in Nature Climate Change, focus in on how efforts to curb climate change could affect summer
sea ice cover in the Arctic.
Bottom line: Barents Sea polar bears are loyal to this region because the eastern portion has the habitat they require to thrive even when
sea ice cover in the western portion essentially disappears for thousands of years at a time.
Unprecedented warm temperatures lead to the loss of more than half of
the sea ice cover in the Bering Sea in two weeks, resulting in record lows for Arctic Ocean sea ice extent for the month of February.
The eastern Barents Sea (located in Russian territory), as defined by the Polar Bear Specialist Group (see map below), provides ample habitat for polar bears to thrive despite extended fluctuations in seasonal
sea ice cover in the western portion.
«In light of the above findings, it appears that
sea ice cover in the Bohai Sea is not quite as sensitive to CO2 - induced global warming as climate model projections / theory suggest it should be.
Cambridge ocean physicist Peter Wadhams said receding
sea ice cover in the Arctic has allowed summer temperatures in the East Siberian Sea to rise several degrees above freezing.
the historic variations of
the sea ice cover in the Arctic.
A central topic will be teleconnections in the climate system, i.e. how a change in climate in one part of the globe (e.g. temperatures in the Atlantic or shrinking
sea ice cover in the Arctic) can influence climate on other parts of the globe (e.g. Eurasian winter temperatures), and how we can use this information to improve regional climate prediction and therefore regional climate service.
Satellite evidence for an Arctic
sea ice cover in transformation.
Investigation of sea ice concentrations support this hypothesis with the emergence of lower ice concentration bands in the southern Beaufort Sea in May 2012 within an increasingly heterogeneous
sea ice cover in the Arctic.
Researchers also tracked
sea ice cover in the Arctic over these two periods and found that the ice declined substantially from the first to the second period.
Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), are anticipating that
the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean this summer may shrink to the record low of 2012.
Researchers have previously suggested that extreme weather in the midlatitudes might be linked to climate change's impacts on the Arctic (SN Online: 12/2/11), particularly the dramatically decreased
sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean.
Not exact matches
Indeed, Arctic change
in the last two decades has been profound — not just dwindling
sea ice, but also noticeably increased precipitation, and thus snow
cover, over Eurasia.
«Northern Hemisphere snow
cover has decreased and Arctic
Sea ice has been at record low levels
in the past three years.»
The result: Surface temperatures increased rapidly, especially
in the Arctic, which saw its September
sea ice cover shrink by 25 percent.
That's important, she said, because cloud
cover influences when
in spring
sea ice begins melting.
«This shift is characterized by the persistent decline
in the thickness and summer extent of
sea -
ice cover and by a warmer, l
In August, NASA launched ARISE, a program to measure how cloud
cover may be accelerating
sea ice melt around the pole.
Capt. Roald Amundsen, the discoverer of the Northwest Passage, left Norway
in June, 1910,
in the «Fram,» seemingly with the intention of sailing around Cape Horn, however, he sailed to the westward across the South Pacific, and made a landing at whale Bay on the
ice sheet
covering Ross
Sea.
The biggest waves seen
in northern
sea ice show how this vital
cover can be crushed much faster than expected
the south - bound expedition had cleared that vast plain of floating
ice which flows down from the great mountains of the interior and
covers the southern part of Ross
Sea throughout an area above 20,000 square miles with an
ice sheet approximately 800 feet
in thickness, and had begun to climb the heights which form the mountainous embayment at the head of Ross
Sea.
Up until 2007,
sea ice systematically fluctuated between extensive
cover in winter and lower
cover in summer.
Some researchers say that the
ice sheet must have melted during the Pliocene, allowing trees to
cover the mountains and diatoms to thrive
in the
seas.
The geologic record shows that the differences
in ice cover,
sea level and precipitation as well as
in plant and animal populations were quite dramatic between the
ice ages and the warm interglacials.
In late June, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released an assessment of how the consequences of climate change, from rising temperatures and sea levels to changes in precipitation patterns and sea ice cover, might impact the militar
In late June, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released an assessment of how the consequences of climate change, from rising temperatures and
sea levels to changes
in precipitation patterns and sea ice cover, might impact the militar
in precipitation patterns and
sea ice cover, might impact the military.
Willerslev thinks the Western Stemmed projectiles were made by the first migrants into America, who came
in by
sea on the west coast while the continental interior was still
covered in ice.
«One societally relevant implication is that more storminess probably means more erosion of Arctic coastlines, especially
in tandem with declines
in buffering
sea ice cover and increases
in thawing coastal permafrost,» concluded Dr. Vavrus.
Within a few hundred years
sea levels
in some places had risen by as much as 10 meters — more than if the
ice sheet that still
covers Greenland were to melt today.
«Polar regions have been changing very rapidly, providing data for our projections on
sea ice, snow
cover,
ice sheets and
sea level rise,» says David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey
in Cambridge, UK, the lead author of the cryosphere chapter.
This past September the National Snow and
Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., which collects polar and ice information for the government, announced that there was less sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean than at any time since satellite measurements began in 19
Ice Data Center
in Boulder, Colo., which collects polar and
ice information for the government, announced that there was less sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean than at any time since satellite measurements began in 19
ice information for the government, announced that there was less
sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean than at any time since satellite measurements began in 19
ice covering the Arctic Ocean than at any time since satellite measurements began
in 1979.
In addition to the thickness of the snow
cover on top of the
sea ice, the buoys also measure the air temperature and air pressure.
AWI researchers observed a considerable decrease
in the thickness of the
sea ice as early as the late summer of 2015, even though the overall
ice covered area of the September minimum ultimately exceeded the record low of 2012 by approximately one million square kilometres.
«If there were a link, it would be more likely to occur
in fall [when the Arctic
sea ice is at a low and the region is warm] than it would
in January [when the Arctic is
ice -
covered and cold], so from that point of view, it's not a compelling candidate at this time of year,» Hoerling said.
They then used the satellite record of Arctic
sea ice extent to calculate the rates of
sea ice loss and then projected those rates into the future, to estimate how much more the
sea ice cover may shrink
in approximately three polar bear generations, or 35 years.
Ice - covered sea areas in the Arctic Ocean during summer have nearly halved since the 1970s and 1980s, raising alarm that the ocean is shifting from a multiyear to a seasonal ice zo
Ice -
covered sea areas
in the Arctic Ocean during summer have nearly halved since the 1970s and 1980s, raising alarm that the ocean is shifting from a multiyear to a seasonal
ice zo
ice zone.
Arctic
sea ice cover grows each winter as the sun sets for several months, and shrinks each summer as the sun rises higher
in the northern sky.
The scientists were able to use a test scenario
in the Greenland
Sea to demonstrate that ALES + returns water levels for
ice -
covered and open ocean regions which are significantly more precise than the results of previous evaluation methods.
«It may even be possible to predict
sea ice cover a year
in advance with high - quality observations of
sea ice thickness and snow
cover over the whole Arctic,» said Cecilia Bitz, co-author and professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.