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Subscribe to RSSNew sea ice is finally starting to form again in the Arctic, scientists reported Wednesday, but not before reaching another record low last Sunday.
"We are now in uncharted territory," Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said in a statement announcing the record low of 1.32 million square miles -- nearly half the average extent from 1979 to 2010. The extent has been tracked by satellite since 1979.
"While we’ve long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic," he added, "few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur."
Many experts expect the Arctic to be free of sea ice in summer at some point between 2015 and 2050.
"Recent climate models suggest that ice-free conditions may happen before 2050," noted center scientist Julienne Stroeve. But she added the caveat that the recent sudden rate of decline "remains faster than many of the models are able to capture."
Serreze told NBC News he's figuring on 2030, calling it "a pretty aggressive estimate."
The sea ice extent numbers come after the center reported last month that the summer sea ice on Aug. 26 had broken the previous record low set in 2007 of 1.61 million square miles. On Aug. 26 the sea ice extent was 1.58 million square miles, it said.
"We're smashing a record that smashed a record," center scientist Walt Meier said.
In the 1980s, he said, summer sea ice would cover an area a bit smaller than the Lower 48 states. Now it is about half that.
A report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows the Arctic's melting ice is resulting in the lowest sea ice levels since satellites started tracking the measurements in 1979. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
The difference between this year's low and that of 2007 is 293,000 square miles, about the size of Texas, the center noted in its report.
Meanwhile, conditions favorable to new sea ice are taking longer to appear.
"The strong late season decline is indicative of how thin the ice cover is," Meier said. "Ice has to be quite thin to continue melting away as the sun goes down and fall approaches."
The thickness of the ice is also in decline.
"The core of the ice cap is the perennial ice, which normally survived the summer because it was so thick", Joey Comiso, a NASA scientist who uses satellites to study the ice, said in a statement. "But because it's been thinning year after year, it has now become vulnerable to melt."
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NASA also noted that a strong August storm that formed off Alaska's coast and moved to the center of the Arctic Ocean had an impact on ice levels.
"The storm definitely seems to have played a role in this year's unusually large retreat of the ice", said NASA scientist Claire Parkinson. "But that exact same storm, had it occurred decades ago when the ice was thicker and more extensive, likely wouldn't have had as prominent an impact, because the ice wasn't as vulnerable then as it is now."
This year follows several of declining summer sea ice.
"The six lowest September ice extents have all been in the past six years," Serreze said. "I think that's quite remarkable."
The experts also noted that what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay there.
The warmer Arctic is adding increased heat and moisture into the climate system, said center scientist Ted Scambos. "This will gradually affect climate in the areas where we live," he said. "We have a less polar pole -- and so there will be more variations and extremes."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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What isn't being covered by the biased news media is that Antartica is getting double the amount of ice that it normally gets.It is offsetting the amount that the artic is loosing.
Silvereagle is exaggerating, plork - but s/he isn't completely wrong. Antarctica is losing land-based ice (lots of it), but gaining sea ice (although nowhere near as much sea ice as the Arctic is losing). This was predicted by climate scientists more than a decade ago, and was even included in the 2007 IPCC report :
A warmer atmosphere holds more water - and Antarctica is still cold enough to see that water precipitate as snow. Eventually that will change, but in the meantime it gives deniers an interesting talking point - as long as they don't bother to understand the science behind it.
I wonder if SE accepts all 2007 IPCC findings, or just this one?
So...we are going through a warming cycle and then we will be going through a cooling cycle, just as the earth has done thousands of times in the past. There are more important things to worry about, like the things we do have control over...the explosive growth of world population would be a good place to start.
I agree Bill. We have added about 5 billion people to the planet in the last 100 years. What's the point of discussing global warming until we get control of the human population. The more people, the more green house gasses we will produce. Global warming is a natural event. If we have caused anything, we may have sped it up. I am all for keeping the environment clean and lessen our us of fossil fuels. Evan if we were able to completely stop using fossil fuels, we would still have gobal warming.
Boy dingnit, if only there was someone with a plan to do just that. Oh wait, that was (he who must not be named)"s plan in WW2? then why were we not on his side? Oh ya the definition of the action on the idea there are too many people on the planet is genocide.
gomezzz... I said nothing about genocide!. Nor did I imply it. Explosive human population is a serious problem. Far more serious than global warming. There is no need for a couple to have 20 children. One maybe 2 is enough for any couple to have.
Bill -- Go talk to the bears!
While were on the subject, global climate change,global warming, global economics,global investment,global war, global terror,global dollars, global flight,global impact, global crops, global starvation, global heat,global cold, global drought, global melting,global freezing,global oceans,global currents,global freight,global star gazing, remember,we are all in this together yet still, Mother Nature will win. On a side note,the time lapse video of Issac was great.
The Earth has gone through radical warming and cooling periods, well before mankind ever showed up on the scene. I am all for being kind to the Earth, but it is the alarmist view that disturbes me.
What is your solution? The gov't is going to control the weather through radical taxation and radical social engineering legislation?
What are you going to do? Ban factories? Ban any engine larger then 4 cylinders? Force everyone to turn their car in and drive electric, or ride a bike to work?
You know cap and trade is scam right? You know that it wont change the climate 1/10th of 1%, if it were implemented. You do know that the people behind the creation of cap n trade are the same people behind the Enron debacle?
We are currently between ice ages. We are experiencing unprecedented global climate stability as compared to the Earth's past.
The next ice age is due in another 10K years or so --- and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You are dealing with time scales and forces that no herculean effort could change one iota. Give it a rest you kooky greenies......be kind to the Earth and realize, there are limits to what we can affect.
You have more problems than you think, if you honestly believe gov't is going to fix the climate for you through taxation and legislation. Technology will improve here and there. That is our best bet to minimize our impact on the Earth.
The solution is a decoupling of economic activity from fossil fuel consumption, which is something that will have to happen anyway eventually. Why sooner rather than later, because waiting till later may cause the total available land for food crops to decrease dramatically, as witnessed already this summer. How to accomplish this? A tax on the wealthy. They have benifited the most from this stable society and have the most to loose if that stability fails due to food insecurity. China spends $800B on renewable research while we make hay over Solendra costing a few milion. People like you are what is standing in the way of feeding the next generation. If we fail to act they starve, its that simple.
ridiculous comment ---- yes I am the problem .....We all benefit from a stable economy --- You dont punish someone simply because they are more successful ...a few million?? are you dilusional? The fed gov't has played venture capitalist to the tune of several billion, with nothing to show for it ---- I have an idea -- move to China, since you think they are doing such a wonderful job of helping the environment
--- typical liberal dope, with no common sense -- everything is centered around blame and radical hate filled solutions.....
gomezz.. I said nothing about genocide!. Nor did I imply it. We as humans have the ability to control how many kids we have. There is no need for a couple to produce 20 kids. One maybe two kids is enough. Over population is more of a threat, than global warming will ever be.
Diginit, global warming, overpopulationa is a "threat" to what? Our exsistence? Are you moralizing and trying to imply and impose some moral that says humanity needs to exist?
Antarctic ice....most in recorded history!!!!!!.....(google maps..."greenland".....summer 2012 pic......hmmmmm.)
For the vast majority of this planets history there has been NO polar ice. Now, because there happens to be some ice when some hairless monkeys exist, there is cause for panic. It is more normal for NO polar ice. It is unusual when there is some. So perhaps we should panic like the monkeys we are when the ice expands.
What the author fails to mention is that the Arctic ice cap has completely melted in the past. The difference between then and now is that there are now some hairless monkeys to run around in circles and go ooh oooh oooh, over it.
You might have a point, if the earth had ever naturally had a simultaneous deforestation and melting of the ice caps. Typically, when the planet is at its warmest, plant life is at its greatest extent and pulling carbon from the atmosphere, thats not happening this time. Human greed is the difference that is pushing the planet into unprecedented extremes.
this news story is about as worthless as our crisis on off-shoring, no one will give up their comforts to stop the spared of global warming so redundant announcements are not going to change the lack of moral character,
You CO2 believers will still be saying this stuff when our sun dies and swells and burns the earth to death. The suns activity along with volcanic activity (cooling from ash blocking suns rays) is the primary engine of our climate. Read about the sun and volcanos stop believing the hype
Change is the nature of the Universe. Stop trying to control change and get used to it. Harbor it. Man is not god.
And in Antarctica both land ice and sea ice are growing.
There is evidence going back 800,000 years that the ice at the poles alternate. The north pole has been losing ice and the south pole has been gaining ice. This will flip as it naturally has for hundreds of thousands of years.
http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/case-alternating-ice-sheets
Absolutely inaccurate:
As for Antarctic sea ice, that modest increase was predicted by climate scientists years ago. See Gillet 2003, Thompson 2002, Turner 2009, and Zhang 2007.
Seeing as how it is still summer in the northern hemisphere, I wouldn't expect a dramatic increase in sea ice! Duh!
wow, blamo, i'm impressed, you really know what ur talking about! Where did you get your degree in science? MIT?
If the ice is at record lows, why haven't our coastal cities been flooded?
Because it's sea ice, Blamo.
Melting sea ice doesn't affect sea levels - if it did, your glass would overflow every time the ice cubes in it melted.
I doubt you swayed him...probably just made him mad
American Patriot...why the need to "sway" anyone. Are you implying that we should try to stop climate change? If so, what is your foundation for pushing this "moral" on other people?
Ice is less dense than water, thus it floats, but has greater volume than equal amount of water. As ice melts, its volume decreases slightly. Attribute this to the crystalline structure ice takes as water freezes (increases volume) and the reverse happens as it melts (smaller volume). So, as noted by another, your glass not only does not overflow when ice cubes melt, the volume of liquid in the glass actually decreases a little (you could measure it as the "water mark" on the side of a glass going down as the ice melts). So, the real question is: as Arctic ice melts, how far will the seashore recede? Will we be able to walk to Europe as sea level drops? On the other hand, land ice (like Greenland glaciers) will raise sea levels as it melts since it is not displacing water currently (as floating Arctic does) and adds to the overall amount of water in the seas. But, given the size and amount of water currently in the seas, there would be little noticable effect to your local sea level unless the totality of all Arctic and Antarctic ice should melt....which does not seem probable at this time.
Are we having fun yet?
hey tinker, think about it. I didn't remark about climate change, I was commenting on Physicist's comment about melting sea ice aka water/ice displacement. Said nothing about climate change. Just about a glass of water. Silly you. Perhaps you were reading the comment below.
PutAmericaFirst........your full of b.s.. Big business needs to be regulated. They will outsource jobs overseas regardless so they can maximize profits and pay as little as possible in the way of Federal taxes. Romney, the fraud did that when he was at Bain Capital. You idiots in the GOP do not believe in Global warming and all of us will pay dearly for your denial. The bottom line is the planet is getting warmer and we need to limit carbon dixoide emissions more than ever.
It's neck and neck down the home stretch in a thrilling race to the finish. Everyone is on their feet cheering on their favorite, but who or what will kill us first. Global warming, the global economic meltdown, some middle-eastern terrorist, or maybe just a drunk driver. Stay tuned for the exciting finish.
Cue the music - ok, people, all together now, "It's beginning to look alot like summer, everywhere you go, there's the ice melting at the pole,.........."
What's the big deal? We can easily fix this with a good old fashioned nuclear winter. What do you say deniers? Don't believe we can change the climate? Think about it.
You can keep gulping the Kook aid on this subject if you want to. They are only potraying a stance to support and get people riled up. They do not tell you this:
Antarctic Iceberg (Photo credit: NOAA's National Ocean Service)
Antarctic sea ice set another record this past week, with the most amount of ice ever recorded on day 256 of the calendar year (September 12 of this leap year). Please, nobody tell the mainstream media or they might have to retract some stories and admit they are misrepresenting scientific data.
National Public Radio (NPR) published an article on its website last month claiming, “Ten years ago, a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island disintegrated and melted in the waters off Antarctica. Two other massive ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula had suffered similar fates a few years before. The events became poster children for the effects of global warming. … There’s no question that unusually warm air triggered the final demise of these huge chunks of ice.”
Move up http://i.forbesimg.com
An increase in Antarctic sea ice has been predicted for more than a decade by climate scientists, Rex.
See, for example, Gillet 2003, Thompson 2002, Turner 2009, and Zhang 2007.
And it was just reported that the antarctic ice cap is the largest EVER.................so what does all of this nonsense prove, absolutely NOTHING!!
This is suppposed to be a discussion about the article. Stick with it. Thought: Columbia SC was at one time ocean front property. The cycle of nature will continue to cycle. Renourishing beaches and trying to hold back the sea are futile. The ice will melt, the oceans will take over then land, and then the land will return all in good time. Just get over it!
Whatever you say Chicken little. The fact is man always tries to convince himself he is so important when it comes to nature. I wonder what the amount of CO put into the air when Mt. St. Helens erupted. Probably about the same a cars running for a decade and it was done in a day.
Who owns kool-aid, I think I better be buying some stock, since people are gulping it down faster than they can make it.
Well, look at the silver lining in this....by next February or March we will see headlines touting the "In a blow to climate warming enthusiasts, 2012-2013 saw the largest amount of Arctic ice formation in one winter since the NWS started keeping records." Kinda like the Obama Administration's record on job formation.....I'm still puzzled over 4.5 million new jobs vs 40+ months of 8.3% unemployment. How does that work? Oh yeah, same way record ice is formed: start with zero and count up.....
Why does everyone think that the melting of polar ice just started happening yesterday? On the U.S. Eastern Seaboard is a large rock with symols carved into it, which is only visible at low tide. After wondering how and why it was carved only to be seen at intervals, they realized the shoreline used to be some 200+ yards further out, where the rock would never be covered with water.
Reefs just off the coasts of Australia and Japan demonstrate dead coral that only grows in shallow areas, that are now submerged over 200ft. Many ancient city remnants around the Mediterranean are completely submerged, yet were on dry land 3,000 years ago.
Sorry, but this isn't a "new" trend that just started 100 years ago due to the 'Evils of Modern Industry'. It's an constant cycle, and is nothing you could or even should do about it.
My apologies to Al Gore. But I am glad he got rid of the dreaded ManBearPig.
If carbon is the culprit. Why does it not effect the antarctic???
Antarctic Ice Area Sets Another Record – NSIDC Is Silent
Posted on September 16, 2012
Day 256 Antarctic ice is the highest ever for the date, and the eighth highest daily reading ever recorded. All seven higher readings occurred during the third week of September, 2007 – the week of the previous Arctic record minimum.
Global warming-bulls----,bulls---,bulls-----,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc
I guess global warming is because of all the new volcanoes. Wait a minute...there have not been any new volcanoes in thousands of years. Guess the carbon dioxide is coming then from all those cows passing gas. Wait though there were 80 million buffalo up till the middle 1800's.
Hmmm guess it is just another geologic time of warming. Wait though there has NEVER been a global climatic change of this scale that took less than 100,000 years, and this has happened in only 150 years?
Get a clue people. We CAN burn COAL, and OIL, and NATURAL GAS but we just have to process the carbon dioxide it produces. Yes it will cost more, so just keep the government OUT OF IT, and let businesses develop solutions, just like they did with lead paint, lead in gasoline, CFC's and even human and animal waster processing.
We did not stop taking a dump because it polluted the land and water, instead we developed waste processiong systems. We can do the same for COAL, OIL and NATURAL GAS.
What does that have to do with "liberals are idiots" moron?
You just proved my point, you are a liberal and you are an IDIOT.
You apparently cannot understand an intelligent post because you are TOO STUPID, or just IGNORANT to read and be able to understand one and make a reply.
Again, thanks for proving godless liberals are idiots, you did a good job of it.
Answer the question numbnuts.