Arctic Sea Ice Re-Freezing at Record Pace

[El Pinko]

Arctic sea ice re-froze at a record pace in late October and November (top shows extent of ice in mid-November), but has yet to recover fully from a record summer melt (bottom shows extent of ice mid-September). Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/arctic-sea-ice-47121205


Arctic Sea Ice Re-Freezing at Record Pace
After Record Summer Melt, Recovery Still Lags


The record melting of Arctic sea ice observed this summer and fall led to record-low levels of ice in both September and October, but a record-setting pace of re-freezing in November, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. Some 58,000 square miles of ice formed per day for 10 days in late October and early November, a new record.

Still, the extent of sea ice recorded in November was well shy of the median extent observed over the past quarter century, as the image from Nov. 14 (above, right) shows. The dramatic increase in ice is evident, when compared to the record-low amount observed Sept. 16 (below, right). In both images, 100% sea ice is shown in white, and the yellow line encompasses the area ion which there was at least 15% ice cover in at least half of the 25-year record for the given month.

The record melting of Arctic sea ice this summer was widely viewed as a harbinger of global warming, though unusual wind patterns played a role and many factors affecting fluctuations in Arctic ice are poorly understood by scientists. Still, so much ice melted that the fabled Northwest passage opened for the first time in history, and the melting broke a record, set just two years ago and by a country mile, that at the time was seen as unprecedented and worrying.

The area of persistent open water north of Alaska and eastern Siberia, according to NASA, is unusual for this time of year, though not unprecedented. This area was also largely free of ice in November 2002 and especially November 2006.

[lurky]

1. I can't wait for the spin from the deniers.

"Proof! Proof!" :sarcasm:

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Why the :sarcasm:

Don't you know that while the earth is impervious to the iterventions of man, it loves our lord and savior Pretzeldent and wishes to honor him and his SOTU?

If I could bear to watch pravda I'm sure they're doing exactly that as we speak. Sigh.

[orleans]

2. so this is good--i'm glad to hear it. n/t

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Not good, just less bad. The reason it's refreezing at a record pace is because

it melted at a record pace. Eventually it won't refreeze anymore.

[orleans]

7. ok--so this is less bad. at any rate, i'm still glad to hear it. n/t

[MichaelHarris]

3. does this mean

I can start using my Briggs and Stratton 2 1/2 horsepower toaster again?

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. Only if it is a two-stroke. n/t

[MichaelHarris]

25. cool

I get to use two fossil fuels at once. I love the smell of two-stroke smoke.

[PretzelWarrior]

WOOHOOOO!!! Bush fixed global warming

THank you, Daddy Bush! I promise I will drive to D.C. in my just recently purchased Hummer to thank you personally, kind lord.

[PretzelWarrior]

4. WOOHOOOO!!! Bush fixed global warming

THank you, Daddy Bush! I promise I will drive to D.C. in my just recently purchased Hummer to thank you personally, kind lord.

[Virginia Dare]

19. You are a true patriot and a gentleman PW...

be sure to pick up lots of cheap toxic shit made in China in every Wal-Mart you pass by.

[WilliamPitt]

6. Yes!!! Quarterly reviews of ecological scenarios matter!!!

Woo! Re-freeze!

:banghead:

[Ramonna Villota]

8. Thank you

I love the link...Never seen it before (bookmarked now)


(please dont hurt me I m new)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. ...

Welcome to DU, Ramonna!

:toast:

[Toots]

11. Oh thank God now I can get a Hummer and really put out some exhaust fumes

The scare is over. Some ice has formed let's all reward Big Oil and the Republicans.... :shrug: Try looking at photos from NASA dating from the seventies to the present. Not much new ice has formed during all those years and in fact half of the ice that was present then is gone now...

[iamthebandfanman]

12. come on earth, you can do it

correct yourself and scratch the parasites off ....

[The Stranger]

20. I hereby recommend post 12.

[dysfunctional press]

13. wow...the arctic sea is freezing over in the winter...

stop the presses. :eyes:

[Coexist]

14. we already had this discussion last November when this came out...

the water is less saline, and the refreeze is not as thick.

There will still be warming and cooling trends, but the median temp. is going higher. (Did I use median correctly, or is it mean?)

[iamthebandfanman]

15. yeah

im sure its super thin actually...
as soon as the sun shifts back, itll be gone again and itll start working on melting the thick ice....

the poor earth is trying to go thru its normal routines

[RadiationTherapy]

16. Volatility is not good, in my, completely unscientific, experience...

Indicative a pendulum swinging ever higher on each pass...or, conversely, a top that is wobbling too much...g.

[Virginia Dare]

18. Okay, maybe I'm being ignorant here..

but if there was a record melt, wouldn't there be a record refreeze? Am I missing something here?

[sentelle]

21. its a bitter pill

This is why its hard to call the issues as 'global warming'. It is possible, and likely that the unusual winds were in fact triggered by climate change, much like the funny floods in various areas around the world are. Scientists say that those winds have been diverted due to changes in temperatures in various places, turning areas to deserts, and other areas to floodplains.

The questions are: how much of it is man-made? And how do we, as a species adapt to fouling our own nests?

[Winterblues]

22. The average WORLD temperature has risen over the last decade

What would you call that, Global cooling? What does the word Global mean to you?

[Squatch]

23. This is why...

1. Ice thawed at a record pace last summer, decreasing the bulk NaCl concentration of the Arctic Ocean

2. According to this phase diagram, as the concentration of salt in water decreases (under 23% NaCl), then the freezing point of that water increases. In other words, the water freezes at a higher temperature.

[JBoy]

24. If it hadn't melted, then it wouldn't have to re-freeze

because it would already be frozen!