Ice Cover

Interesting news about ice cover at the Arctic (North Pole) and the Antarctic (South Pole), all the more relevant now that the Goracle joins Yasser Arafat as a proud recipient of the astonishingly debased and politicized Nobel Peace Prize.

The award was also a validation for the United Nations panel, which in its early days was vilified by those who disputed the scientific case for a human role in climate change.

Validation? Ha! An idiot lauding a moron as a genius is hardly vindication.

And as a judge in Britain points out his "documentary's" falsehoods.

First, from gatewaypundit, we find that Antarctic ice cover is higher than ever measured from satellites. New cover, which varies seasonally, is shown in purple.



At the North Pole, however, where the ice is floating on water and thus its melting doesn't raise sea levels, the coverage is getting smaller:

PASADENA, Calif. - A new NASA-led study found a 23-percent loss in the extent of the Arctic's thick, year-round sea ice cover during the past two winters. This drastic reduction of perennial winter sea ice is the primary cause of this summer's fastest-ever sea ice retreat on record and subsequent smallest-ever extent of total Arctic coverage.

The question is why? Warmer temperatures, or something else?

The scientists observed less perennial ice cover in March 2007 than ever before, with the thick ice confined to the Arctic Ocean north of Canada. Consequently, the Arctic Ocean was dominated by thinner seasonal ice that melts faster. This ice is more easily compressed and responds more quickly to being pushed out of the Arctic by winds. Those thinner seasonal ice conditions facilitated the ice loss, leading to this year's record low amount of total Arctic sea ice.

Nghiem said the rapid decline in winter perennial ice the past two years was caused by unusual winds. "Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters.

"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of this century," Nghiem said.

Climate is changing. The reasons are complex.