How ironic is it that Arctic sea ice melt in August was larger than the state of Alaska?
The Artcic sea ice melt for August 2008 broke the record for melt rate of that month. The amount that melted was bigger than the size of Alaska, a state very close to the Arctic, from which Sarah Palin hails, who doesn't believe that humans are causing global warming.
Do you find it ironic that right asPalin and her beliefs on global warming come into the limelight, the Arctic sea ice melts by more than the size of Alaska?
Any other thoughts on breaking the August Arctic sea ice melt rate?
Ken2008-09-08T15:08:41Z
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Jim Z - Ever hear the idiom "Pot calling the kettle black"? Why don't you be an example for Dana and present some scientific evidence that explains the Arctic sea ice melt without AGW? That might be a nice start to helping seperate partisanship (both your's and Dana's) from science.
Since August 1st the ice extent has decreased another 2.47 million km^2 (Alaska is about 1.7 million km^2), which was the most rapid loss of Arctic sea ice for the month of August.
It's actually a bit surprising, after the very cold la nina Winter and large accumulation of new ice, that this year is so near to breaking the 2007 record year low ice extent. Two new record years in a row (whether it's 2007, 2008 or 2008, 2007 as 1st & 2nd) is significant. It will be interesting to play with some trending analysis once the low is officially determined in September. It looks like some possible acceleration in ice loss may be occurring.
The first reference gives the 1979 to 2000 average as a comparison to 2007 and 2008. I think that the graph would be more informative if all of the curves were plotted, or at least the standard deviations on the average. The second source implies that the SD is about 1/4 of the signal, but these are annual averages so the numbers cannot be directly compared without accounting for seasonal effects. The June ice extent may be within the SD for the average, but it would appear that the September ice extent in recent years is significantly outside a SD for the average. A better, but perhaps more difficult measurement would be the ice volume rather than area. The increasing arctic ice melt indicates more energy is arriving in the arctic. I think that the relative contributions of a change in albedo and energy flux from lower lattitudes (via ocean currents) to the excess energy is an open question.
We had a very cold winter 07/08 in the northern hemisphere and yet the Arctic still melted to one of the lowest levels seen since the satellite record started and comments like crazycon's show little understanding of whats going on, yes it did refreeze by the size of '2 Germany's' but what refroze was much thinner and all that melted this summer very quickly exposing (in spite of the cold winter) old thicker ice to melting. That means we have to have very cold winters or the melt will be much larger.
Boatman: Several questions and answers have been posted recently about the NW passage. The fact is last years big melt opened it up as a viable shipping route, and this is the first time this has happened. It is also true that it has been traversed in the past, starting with Roald Amundsen and it is also true that it took him 3 years to get through as with all the trips after which took times varying from many weeks to months and years, picking your way through over long periods of time isn't a shipping lane.
It's not the first time the Arctic has been ice free and the Northwest passage open to ship traffic--
"Roald Amundsen was the first to succeed, sailing on his ship Gjöa, from Greenland, through Lancaster Strait to the south-east coast of King William’s Land, where, while wintering, he conducted research and observations, as a result of which he pin-pointed the North Magnetic Pole. In the year 2006,100 years have passed since Roald Amundsen for the first time managed to cover this route. Another complete passage took place 40 years later, during the World War II. The route from the Pacific to the Atlantic was covered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner St. Roch under the command of Henry Larsen. In the second half of XXth century the situation remained relatively unchanged and only a few vessels such as icebreakers used for Arctic transport or special ships were crossing the passage. The first yacht to manage from the Atlantic to the Pacific through North West Passage was the Dutch ketch Willywaw under the command of William de Roos in 1977. So far, only a few yachts have been able to finish the route. "
and that's only the last 100 years-------- we have only been able to SEE the arctic from space and measure the ice in the very RECENT past.
Not as ironic as the sea ice having increased by about twice the size of Germany. You may have missed the irony, but I will point it out to you. You yokels predicted the north pole would be ice free this year (50/50%), and yet it increased from last year. Back to the old model. If the model doesn't predict, you must acquit.
BTW, I must have missed something. Since when does a melting iceberg prove anything about AGW? Are these icebergs only able to melt when the warming is due to humans? And if so, who changed out the icebergs that have been melting for thousands of years without our intervention?