NOAA
Arctic sea ice getting thinner, younger
NOAA released its annual Arctic Report Card yesterday. As you might imagine, the news is that by-now-familiar mix of depressing and alarming. Among the most alarming/depressing details is that Arctic air temperatures were not particularly remarkable, but it was still a record-setting year for things like minimum Arctic sea ice.
Apart from one or two exceptions, the scientists said the air temperatures were not unusually high this year relative to the last decade. Nevertheless, they saw large changes in multiple indicators affecting Arctic climate and ecosystems; combined, these changes are strong evidence of the growing momentum of Arctic environmental system change.
Through the graphics and visuals companion document (pdf) I found this amazing time lapse (screen grab above, but I can't embed it so you have to click through) that is meant to show the disappearance of old ice over time. What else it shows is the fascinating swirling current rendered in a way that makes the entire Arctic Ocean look like a giant amoeba under a slide. Worth a look for, among other insights, a sense of how the Arctic feeds into the North Atlantic.
Leave a Comment:
information like this really SCARES ME.
It is one scary video.
(speaking from the peanut gallery of scientists)
Yeah, terrifying, but unimagineably beautiful. God love those NOAA folks. Maybe this will turn a few denier-heads. These are just data, after all. One doesn't need a Ph.D. to interpret them. No one's drawing a hockey stick on the map.
Unless Moses is swinging a hockey stick on this map, this will be ruled as an Al Gore joke by the conservatives.
sandyh -- you know, you're probably right. Still, if one doesn't have faith (and I don't), one may still have hope.
Governor Christie might want to reconsider vetoing the AHC exchanges bill. Not only is his state going to be at the mercy of some really strong and unpredictable sea currents and the weather disasters they create, lots of people are going to need emergency medical coverage as well when they hit land.
Congressional Republicans will never approve a recovery bill without equal cuts to other federal programs and services to NJ.
This has to be the s**ttiest post ever on this blog.
First comes a survey, which I spend time trying to take, and it knocks me off because I'm "not qualified." Maybe your show is not qualified to watch!
Then the video comes up and its nothing but a rerun of a show segment from. . . last night? BFDeal!
Arctic map? Not available.
It's not nice to f**k with your audience.
You can give people the absolute truth. You can show them pictures. Show them videos. Show them graphs. Give them proof with science. Show them everything they need to known in order to learn. But when it comes to Republicans they learn nothing. The last elections have taught us that.
"Man-made global warming is a hoax that threatens our future and the future of our children." Really? How?
Holla, Lupe.
We've had the Taliban/Teaparty for a good long while. When Galileo said all you have to do is look through the telescope, he was told, 'It's the Devil's invention so you'll see whatever He wants you to see.'
Against stupidity, the gods themselves strive in vain.
What will our descendents say about this denial 100 years from now? We were more concerned about a recession, more concerned about jobs? What difference will these concerns make 100 years from now, when your great grandchildren are suffering through blistering conditions; if they're still around. We're a species that fights over limited resources. How will we respond to the limited water and food, and the climatic catastrophes that are bound to occur when there are 9 billion humans on this planet in 2040? As the Arctic melts, how do we respond? We fight over drilling rights. Species suicide; and we think we're intelligent. You don't see the "dumb beasts" destroying the only habitable planet we're aware of. Thank God, I had the sense not to reproduce. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't realize it would get this bad, this fast.
Hey, look on the -ahem- bright side...
Once the Arctic ice cap is history, the amount of atmospheric moisture over the Arctic Sea will increase dramatically. This will lead to 'lake effect snows' similar to those in Buffalo or Chicago, but on a much grander scale.
The result will be an ice free sea ringed by permanent snow fields and eventually glaciers, flowing south. The reflective properties of the ice will eventually reverse global warming, but not before scrubbing clean the more northern half of the northern hemisphere.
Geologists and archeologists will be able to map the southernmost extent of the ice sheets for hundreds of thousands of years by the heaps of trash pushed to the end of the glaciers. Much of the trash will rot, rust, or otherwise decay, but aluminum cans last millions of years and will forever commemorate our madness with a line of shiny (paint on cans will go away) cylinders ringing the globe.
You may even be able to see it from space.
If we were a logical people with a logical government -
We would immediately reduce incoming immigration into the United States to zero.
Alas.
Father time is patient, he gives us all the time in the world to fix the problem, But, we are too busy manufacturing more hazardous waste product, The air is filling up with jet stream fuels When are we going to get serious here? Republicans have changed the meaning of the word conservative, to suit their fancy needs. They think it has something to do with their wardrobe. No, it means that we need to stop being the number 1 consumers on the planet, most of us are obese and glutteny is now the prominent deterent in moving forward. Stop over consuming. Other nations look at us as if we are poor slobs who want everything right now. How can we change that horrible description, of who we really are. The Earth only has a certain amount of food and water, conserve now, no matter how rich you are or how many houses you just have to have. We look like vultures to outsiders.
has anyone asked prissy george will for his comment/explanation/lie about this?