another article on Arctic Ice

[Old Rocks]

Arctic ice cap 'to disappear in future summers'

The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow.

It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added.

Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice.

The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark predictions about the state of the ice cap.

"The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated," said Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.

 

[Elutherian]

You do realize that the polar bears are actually doing better than us, considering the recession. In fact, they're actually increasing, not decreasing, in population size: Polar Bear Baby Boom Occurring in Eastern Arctic, Will Media Notice? | NewsBusters.org

 

[Old Rocks]

You do realize that the article was about the decline in Arctic Ice? Are you practicing being a troll?

 

[Chris]

The ice is melting, even thought the sun is at it's lowest level of activity in 80 years.

 

[Elutherian]

You do realize that the article was about the decline in Arctic Ice? Are you practicing being a troll?

Do, or do not, Polar Bears live on the Arctic Circle?

 

[Old Rocks]

Well, no, they do not live 'on' the arctic circle. They live both north and a bit south of the Arctic circle, which is an imaginery line, not something that they can live 'on'.

 

[Elutherian]

Well, no, they do not live 'on' the arctic circle. They live both north and a bit south of the Arctic circle, which is an imaginery line, not something that they can live 'on'.

Well you know what I meant.

I was bringing up the subject of polar bear population due to the fact that the main reason Enviro-nuts are so hung up on melting ice is to "save the polar bears", or some shit like that.

 

[Old Rocks]

Are you truly this ignorant? Damn!

Dwindling Arctic Ice : Feature Articles

Additionally, some scientists say Arctic warming could change our atmosphere. If Arctic areas continue to warm, scientists speculate that thawing Arctic soils may release significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane currently trapped in permafrost. Slightly warmer ocean water may also release frozen natural gases in the sea floor, all of which act as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, says Rind. However, the extent to which Arctic warming will add greenhouse gases to our atmosphere is a matter of debate.


ScienceDirect - Journal of Marine Systems : Methane release and coastal environment in the East Siberian Arctic shelf
aInternational Arctic Research Center, University Alaska Fairbanks, 930 Koyukuk Dr., P.O. Box 757335, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA

bPacific Oceanological Institution Far-East Branch of Russian Academy of Science, 43 Baltic Street, Vladivostok, 690041 Russia


Received 20 November 2005; accepted 22 June 2006. Available online 13 October 2006.

Abstract
In this paper we present 2 years of data obtained during the late summer period (September 2003 and September 2004) for the East Siberian Arctic shelf (ESAS). According to our data, the surface layer of shelf water was supersaturated up to 2500% relative to the present average atmospheric methane content of 1.85 ppm, pointing to the rivers as a strong source of dissolved methane which comes from watersheds which are underlain with permafrost. Anomalously high concentrations (up to 154 nM or 4400% supersaturation) of dissolved methane in the bottom layer of shelf water at a few sites suggest that the bottom layer is somehow affected by near-bottom sources. The net flux of methane from this area of the East Siberian Arctic shelf can reach up to 13.7 × 104 g CH4 km− 2 from plume areas during the period of ice free water, and thus is in the upper range of the estimated global marine methane release. Ongoing environmental change might affect the methane marine cycle since significant changes in the thermal regime of bottom sediments within a few sites were registered. Correlation between calculated methane storage within the water column and both integrated salinity values (r = 0.61) and integrated values of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (r = 0.62) suggest that higher concentrations of dissolved methane were mostly derived from the marine environment, likely due to in-situ production or release from decaying submarine gas hydrates deposits. The calculated late summer potential methane emissions tend to vary from year to year, reflecting most likely the effect of changing hydrological and meteorological conditions (temperature, wind) on the ESAS rather than riverine export of dissolved methane. We point out additional sources of methane in this region such as submarine taliks, ice complex retreat, submarine permafrost itself and decaying gas hydrates deposits.

Keywords: East Siberian Arctic shelf; Marine methane cycle; Methane plumes; Methane flux; Methane storage

 

[Sinatra]

Arctic ice cap 'to disappear in future summers'

The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow.

It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added.

Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice.

The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark predictions about the state of the ice cap.

"The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated," said Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.

That publicity stunt was a fiasco!!!!

I can't believe you actually linked to it. How is one as old as you so easily led around by his nose?

____


The 'Global Warming Three' are on thin ice

The only problem with a project to prove that Arctic ice is disappearing is the fact that it is actually getting thicker, says Christopher Booker.

...With perfect timing, the setting out from Britain of the “Global Warming Three” last month was hampered by “an unusually heavy snowfall”. When they were airlifted to the start of their trek by a twin-engine Otter (one hopes a whole forest has been planted to offset its “carbon footprint”), they were startled to find how cold it was. The BBC dutifully reported how, in temperatures of minus 40 degrees, they were “battered by wind, bitten by frost and bruised by falls on the ice”.

The idea is that the expedition should take regular radar fixes on the ice thickness, to be fed into a computer model in California run by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski, whose team, according to the BBC, “is well known for producing results that show much faster ice-loss than other modelling teams”. The professor predicts that summer ice could be completely gone as early as next year. It took the Watts Up With That? science blog to point out that there is little point in measuring ice thickness unless you do it several years running, and that, anyway, Arctic ice is being constantly monitored by US Army buoys. The latest reading given by a typical sensor shows that since last March the ice has thickened by “at least half a metre”.

“In most fields of science,” comments WUWT drily, “that is considered an 'increase’ rather than a 'decline’.”

The 'Global Warming Three' are on thin ice - Telegraph


http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic62-2-253.pdf

A question for the Catlin Arctic Survey: what happens to the fuel drums? « Watts Up With That?


My hat is off to the Catlin team for providing an invaluable education to those of us enjoying the springtime at lower latitudes. Hopefully they will return home safely to their families, and produce a useful and unbiased report of their findings about the ice.
This education for the public on the enduring cold of the Arctic is not marred by the fact that they failed to deliver on many early promises, including reaching the North Pole. Maybe this is why the press is pretty much ignoring them now, with only 14 hits in a Google News search for “Catlin Arctic Ice Survey”.


Catlin Arctic Ice Survey Packing It Up – What Have They Accomplished? « Watts Up With That?

 

[FactFinder]

The ice is melting, even thought the sun is at it's lowest level of activity in 80 years.

Though in the real world the ice has not only thickened but spread over the last 2 years.

 

[Old Rocks]

The ice is melting, even thought the sun is at it's lowest level of activity in 80 years.

Though in the real world the ice has not only thickened but spread over the last 2 years.

Your source for this nonsense is?