New Video: 2016 Arctic Sea Ice
October 17, 2016
I included interviews here with David Barber, one of the truly important experts in the area, that I conducted on the first leg of this year’s crowd funded Dark Snow Field work, at a meeting in Lund, Sweden.
You’ll also see Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center
Important points: although this year did not set a new record low for sea ice minimum, the kind of ice loss we did see, and the mechanism of that loss, show that, even in a year when the months of greatest insolation, july and august, were not particularly conducive to melt, we can still see dramatic losses.
Also, important fun fact – although we generally assume that since the ice is melting, it automatically makes human endeavors in polar regions easier and safer. Not so.
Barber points out some counterintuitive processes that make the arctic more unpredictable, and at least for now, just as challenging if not more so than in the past.
I included Andy Lee Robinson’s terrific 3-d graph of sea ice melt in passing, but did not have the most recent version in time for this piece, so am posting that below.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
October 17, 2016 at 6:57 am
A collapse in Arctic sea ice volume spells disaster for the rest of the planet
Global warming drives a stunning collapse in sea ice volume.
October 17, 2016 at 7:08 am
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that Arctic sea ice is melting faster than expected, which indicates that dramatic changes are occurring in the climate system.
The agency has called for the establishment of an Arctic observatory to help address the potentially dangerous changes.
More => Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected, indicating dramatic climate change
October 17, 2016 at 8:58 am
Reblogged this on AGR Daily News Service.
October 17, 2016 at 11:09 pm
What is the new evidence that links changes in the jetstream to changes in the arctic?
October 20, 2016 at 7:27 pm
new papers coming out all the time, here’s a recent one
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08062016/greenland-arctic-record-melt-jet-stream-wobbly-global-warming-climate-change
October 22, 2016 at 3:35 pm
This one? http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11723
I do not see how that paper is new evidence. It states in the discussion “Recent studies provide theoretical arguments that slowing zonal winds might be associated with larger planetary wave amplitudes and that Arctic amplification and/or sea-ice loss do intensify existing ridges, thereby contributing to their persistence. In the event studied here, however, the exceptional melting followed the ridging, rather than preceding it in alignment with other studies, indicating that observations and models results do not support the above mentioned expected effects of Arctic amplification”.
October 19, 2016 at 1:13 am
The actual arctic ice low was about the same as 2007 and higher than 2012. The melt season ended earlier so it was colder. Reading this article you would think the world was ending and life as we know it is finished. Never mind that the arctic ice allowed passage of ships in 1906 in the summer so the arctic ice was low enough for that for at least the last 110 years, never mind the NASA study which showed the entire arctic ice free in summer from 8500 to 6500 BP which is 2000 years of warmer than today’s weather with less CO2.
October 20, 2016 at 1:35 pm
Tom Bates the liar still hasn’t retracted his lies about the NASA/GISS global temperature work.
Consider this to be my 19th request (at least) for him to retract those lies, a request that he will certainly ignore.
Here is a link to my boilerplate retraction request:
https://climatecrocks.com/2016/10/12/gop-climate-denial-will-erode-with-florida-beaches/#comment-86900
Of course, I don’t expect Bates to muster up enough honesty to retract his lies. But I do want new visitors here to appreciate how dishonest he is.
October 20, 2016 at 3:53 pm
Folks should check out the latest on the Arctic sea-ice extent: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/
It shows that (1) the Arctic sea-ice extent is now tied with 2007 and 2012 for all-time low coverage for the current date (10/20), and (2) Tommy Poo is completely full of it.
Tommy Poo, you have less than zero credibility here. Do you not realize that? You seem to be even more lacking in self-awareness than Donald Trump is.
October 22, 2016 at 8:22 am
” Never mind that the arctic ice allowed passage of ships in 1906 in the summer so the arctic ice was low enough for that for at least the last 110 years, never mind the NASA study which showed the entire arctic ice free in summer from 8500 to 6500 BP which is 2000 years of warmer than today’s weather with less CO2.”
Bullshit. Prove it – I dare you. That means links to sources, not just garbage spewing from your word hole.
October 19, 2016 at 9:07 am
Well, the world could end and life as we know it change forever, but the incoherence of “Mastur” Bates never ends!
October 19, 2016 at 2:05 pm
Bates’ remarks are yet another vivid example of how to miss the point. First, dubious claims about 1906 and all the years between being somehow ‘more or less’ just like now despite the satellite record showing a very significant downward trend that looks like it will reach zero not long from now. Second the irrelevant ‘but there was less ice a very long time ago’. At that time, of course, humans didn’t have massive economies with massive capital investments (cities, agriculture etc.) depending on stable sea levels and stable climate. Today we do. The price of inaction is already being paid- and it’s only going to grow until we get to net zero (and, we now must hope, negative) GHG emissions.