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Arctic sea ice extent is well below average this summer and hit a record low for the month of July.
New satellites help measure thickness of the ice
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Arctic sea ice extent reached a record low level in July before recovering at the end of the month. As of July 31, the sea ice extent was at 2.62 million square miles.
During the northern hemisphere summer, the ice shrinks through September, then starts to expand again through the winter. Accurate sea ice extent measurements date back to 1979, when satellites first started delivering reliable data and photographic images.
This July, the sea ice extent was 81,000 square miles less than the previous low, set in 2007, and 842,000 square miles less than the average for 1979 to 2000, according to the monthly update from the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis web page. Based on the data gathered since 1979, Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a rate of about 6.8 percent each decade.
Signalling the trend of vanishing sea ice, new data shows that more of the Arctic’s store of old and thick ice is melting. The ice melted quickly in early July, but the melting slowed down the second half of the month as a high pressure system over the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, broke down, bringing stormier and cooler weather to the region. The Arctic ice researchers say the weather change probably pushed the ice apart, forming a thinner but more extensive ice cover.
Between late March and late July, younger sea ice declined by as much as 30 percent, while the oldest ice (older than five year) declined by 18 percent. Researchers are gathering more data on ice age and thickness because it will provide clues as to the overall trend of sea ice loss. The young, thinner ice is more vulnerable to summer melting.
With the meting this summer, the ice has retreated from the shores of Siberia and Eurasia, potentially opening a trans-Arctic shipping route from Murmansk through the Bering Strait. A Russian tanker set sail from Murmansk on June 29, and helped by two icebreakers, completed the passage July 14. The shipping company plans to send several more ships along the northern sea route this summer.
Information compiled from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Filed under: climate and weather, Environment, global warming, Summit County news Tagged: | Arctic, Arctic sea ice record low, Beaufort Sea, Bering Strait, climate change, Environment, global warming, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Polar ice packs, Sea ice, sea ice extent 2011
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Innovative energy underwrites coverage of energy stories.
Bob,
You can see quite clearly from the graph in your article that Arctic ice is not at a “record low.”
Steve, it looks to me like it reached a record low level in July, at least for the short satellite-era record that exists; then the pace of melting slowed, as explained by the NSIDC. So I guess it depends which point of the curve you want to pick.
Bob,
Given that we are approaching the end of the melt season and that it is no longer near a record low, how is this news relevant?
http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/seaice/extent/AMSRE_Sea_Ice_Extent.png
I just try to document this as part of a regular beat coverage. I think it’s of interest to readers and significant that it reached this low extent in a non-El Niño year. If the sea ice extent grows to a record level, I’ll report on that as well.
you can see it was at record low if you look at the July part, assuming the 2007 was the previous lowest, which the graph doesn’t show but the text does.
Yes, we clearly MUST nick pick at the data and argue on the FINE points of the graph, that is the IMPORTANT ISSUE here.
Not that it changes the basic physics of adding greenhouse gas to the atmosphere will induce a warmer planet and thus eventually create an ice free artic. Let the NEXT generation deal with the crisis we are making and now know better, but refuse to do and meaningful change.
Since there is a delaying response there is MORE “ice loss” coming even if we end using the atmosphere as an open sewer.
Boy are we dumb
Basic physics says that a doubling of CO2 will increase temperatures by a little over one degree, which is not enough to melt the Arctic.
Dr. Walt Meier at NSIDC says that the Arctic was ice-free around 5,000 years ago and it had nothing to do with CO2.
Someone told me the other day — do not feed the trolls.
In other words, you don’t an have answer Bob.
I answered already. Just don’t have time for pointless debates; too busy informing people about real climate change impacts. And I’m guessing that residents of those low-lying atolls that are about to disappear would differ with your conclusions.
So, a question for the board here; stevengoddard appears to be a troll from the petroleum industry or Koch Brothers or some other organization with intent to diminish the importance of climate change. Thoughts?
Tofl, I agree with your supposition that stevengoddard seems to have a more-than-normal interest in trying to disprove climate change. His comments resemble those from trolls that spend so much time on political sites.