[asa] Arctic sea ice and global warming

From http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_observ/pdf/Nov-Dec06.pdf

Page 12 onward

Including 2006, the September rate of sea ice decline is now
approximately –8.59% per decade, or
60,421 km2/year (23,328 mi2/year. NSIDC Research Scientist Julienne
Stroeve said, "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean will have no ice in
September by the year 2060." The loss of summer sea ice does not bode
well for species like the polar bear, which depend on the ice for
their livelihood, she said.

But then again, the polar bear was never mentioned in the Bible so why
should we care P-)

Figure 2 shows a "Time series plot—2006, shown in the long-dashed
line, is below even the record year (2005), shown as a short-dashed
line, until mid-July, when sea ice conditions improved because of
cooler Arctic temperatures. However, 2006 was still well below the
1979 to
2000 average, shown in solid black. Credit: National Snow and Ice
Data Center. "

The Arctic Sea Ice extent is reducing.

While this does not establish the anthropic component of global
warming, it shows how significant the warming event really is. Since
the reduction of sea ice increases the absorption of heat by the now
'darker ocean', there is a positive feedback loop which causes waters
to accelerate their warming trend.

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Received on Sun, 7 Jan 2007 21:04:44 -0800