Antarctica sets new record for sea ice area

[ArMaP]

On top of that, coral bleaching caused by the heating of ocean waters has decimated the marine ecosystems built off those reefs, driving fish away.

According to some people, that's where the bigger difference in temperature is, and the air temperatures are only a consequence of the warmer sea waters.

Unfortunately, the oceans are even less known than the atmosphere, so there's not much knowledge about it.

[The Seeker]

so if I read this correctly, the ice volume in the arctic increased by 50% from the previous year; cool. can those satellites measuring the ice pack be accessed by peons like us so we can check and see how it is as of right now?


seeker

[ArMaP]

so if I read this correctly, the ice volume in the arctic increased by 50% from the previous year; cool.

It looks like it, but it also looks like Antarctica is really losing ice.

can those satellites measuring the ice pack be accessed by peons like us so we can check and see how it is as of right now?

It looks like they accept people from the "scientific community", but I guess anyone can try it here.

PS: I suspect the data available is in some kind of "raw" format, probably just numbers that have to be interpreted.

[ArMaP]

As I should suspect in a case like this, this is satellite is orbiting in a near polar orbit, so it "sees" both poles (except a small area exactly on the poles, as the orbits is just near polar, not really polar), that's why there's data available for Antarctica too, as seen on my previous post. 

[sky otter]

wellllllllllll..maybe you don't have to be to scientifically oriented
quick search using:
can satellites measuring the ice pack be accessed by anyone

you'll have to go to the sites to read everything.. i only copied  the start of the info



http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Read scientific analysis on Arctic sea ice conditions. We provide an update during the first week of each month, or more frequently as conditions warrant


? Previous Article June changes its tune


July 2, 2014 Arctic sea ice extent continues its seasonal decline. Through most of June the pace of decline was near average, but increased towards the end of the month.



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https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/tag/sea-ice/


All posts tagged sea ice
Hot Arctic Water, High Pressure Domes Pushing Sea Ice Toward New Record Lows
It doesn't take much to shove Arctic sea ice toward new record low values these days. Human caused climate change has made it easy for all kinds of weather systems to bully the ice.

In the case of the past seven days, three moderate strength high pressure cells churned away over the central Arctic, bringing with them clear skies, air temperatures in the range of average for 1979-2000 above the 70 North Latitude line, and a clockwise circulation favoring sea ice compaction and warm water upwelling at the ice edge.

The highs measured in the range of 1020 to 1025 hPa barometric pressure. Moderate-strength weather conditions that during a typical year of the last century would have been almost completely non-noteworthy. Today, instead, we have sea ice extent testing new record lows in the Japanese Space Agency's monitor:


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http://www.skepticalscience.com/antarctica-gaining-ice.htm


Is Antarctica losing or gaining ice?
Link to this pageWhat the science says...
Select a level...  Basic    Intermediate   
Satellites measure Antarctica is gaining sea ice but losing land ice at an accelerating rate which has implications for sea level rise.


Climate Myth...Antarctica is gaining ice
"[Ice] is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap." (Greg Roberts, The Australian)


Skeptic arguments that Antarctica is gaining ice frequently hinge on an error of omission, namely ignoring the difference between land ice and sea ice.

In glaciology and particularly with respect to Antarctic ice, not all things are created equal. Let us consider the following differences. Antarctic land ice is the ice which has accumulated over thousands of years on the Antarctica landmass itself through snowfall. This land ice therefore is actually stored ocean water that once fell as precipitation. Sea ice in Antarctica is quite different as it is ice which forms in salt water primarily during the winter months. When land ice melts and flows into the oceans global sea levels rise on average; when sea ice melts sea levels do not change measurably.

In Antarctica, sea ice grows quite extensively during winter but nearly completely melts away during the summer (Figure 1). That is where the important difference between Antarctic and Arctic sea ice exists as much of the Arctic's sea ice lasts all the year round. During the winter months it increases and before decreasing during the summer months, but an ice cover does in fact remain in the North which includes quite a bit of ice from previous years (Figure 1). Essentially Arctic sea ice is more important for the earth's energy balance because when it increasingly melts, more sunlight is absorbed by the oceans whereas Antarctic sea ice normally melts each summer leaving the earth's energy balance largely unchanged.


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http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat/New_dimensions_on_ice


CryoSat at a glanceAn Earth ExplorerCryoSat: an icy missionEarth's changing iceFacts and figures

About the satellite...
PlatformInstrumentsAbout the launch...

Launch siteLauncherAfter launchMeet the team...

Richard Francis - Project Manager Tommaso Parrinello - Mission Manager Duncan Wingham, Lead Investigator Klaus Köble, EADS Astrium Project Manager Mark Drinkwater, Mission Scientist Bill Simpson, Launch Campaign Manager Nic Mardle, Spacecraft Operations Manager Laurent Rey, Thales Alenia Space SIRAL Project Manager Malcolm Davidson, Validation Manager MultimediaImage Gallery Videos Online documents

ESA > Our Activities > Observing the Earth > CryoSat


Arctic ice thickness 2010–13
Access the video
New dimensions on ice11 September 2013
Offering new insights into our fragile polar regions, ESA's CryoSat mission has provided three consecutive years of Arctic sea-ice thickness measurements, which show that the ice continues to thin.

Although satellites have witnessed a downward trend in the extent of sea ice over the last two decades, it is essential to have accurate information on the mass or volume of ice being lost. This is a more accurate measure of the changes taking place.

Along with observations of ice extent, CryoSat's measurements of thickness now span from October 2010 to April 2013, allowing scientists to work out the real loss of ice, monitor seasonal change and identify trends.




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http://tamino.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/antarctic-sea-ice-increase/



? Pity the Fool          Tiny Graphs

?Antarctic Sea Ice Increase


Posted on February 4, 2014 | 23 Comments 

There's no doubt that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic has decreased, by a lot. I would even describe the decrease as "staggering." Meanwhile, the amount of sea ice in the Antarctic has trended in the opposite direction, i.e. it has grown. Has its increase also been "staggering?" Let's look at the data.


Here's Antarctic sea ice extent anomaly, monthly data from NSIDC (the National Snow and Ice Data Center), with the baseline period for "anomaly" calculation selected as the entire time span, together with a lowess smooth (in red):

[Amaterasu]

So again, We're faced with a "who to believe" situation.  I have many sites saying the north is gaining ice and many that are saying the opposite...  Hmmmm.

[rdunk]

Well, while we were talkig about the record antarctic record ice growth, the "record" fell. Antarctic sea ice hit its second all-time record maximum this week. The new record is 2.112 million square kilometers above normal. It will be interesting to see how long these "new weekly records" continue. We may want to start digging out the really insulated stuff if this continues into the coming winter!!

Antarctic sea ice hits second all-time record in a week
Posted on July 2, 2014 by stevengoddard

stevengoddard:

Mark Serreze demonstrates a classic example of making up technical sounding gibberish to confuse laymen.

Originally posted on Talking About the Weather:

Antarctic sea ice has hit its second all-time record maximum this week. The new record is 2.112 million square kilometers above normal. Until the weekend just past, the previous record had been 1.840 million square kilometers above normal, a mark hit on December 20, 2007, as I reported here, and also covered in my book.

Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, responded to e-mail questions and also spoke by telephone about the new record sea ice growth in the Southern Hemisphere, indicating that, somewhat counter-intuitively, the sea ice growth was specifically due to global warming.

Serreze

"The primary reason for this is the nature of the circulation of the Southern Ocean  – water heated in high southern latitudes is carried equatorward, to be replaced..."

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/antarctic-sea-ice-hits-second-all-time-record-in-a-week/

[rdunk]

Coldest Antarctic June Ever Recorded!

That is the headline of a July 12, 2014 article. Are we beginning to see world evidence of global cooling??

Posted on July 12, 201 by Anthony Watts

Story submitted by Eric Worrall

Antarctica continues to defy the global warming script, with a report from Meteo France, that June this year was the coldest Antarctic June ever recorded, at the French Antarctic Dumont d'Urville Station.

According to the press release, during June this year, the average temperature was -22.4c (-8.3F), 6.6c (11.9F) lower than normal. This is the coldest June ever recorded at the station, and almost the coldest monthly average ever – only September 1953 was colder, with a recorded average temperature of -23.5c (-10.3F).

June this year also broke the June daily minimum temperature record, with a new record low of -34.9c (-30.8F).

Other unusual features of the June temperature record are an unusual excess of sunlight hours (11.8 hours rather than the normal 7.4 hours), and unusually light wind conditions.

Dumont d'Urville Station has experienced ongoing activity since 1956. According to the Meteo France record, there is no other weather station for 1000km in any direction.

http://www.meteofrance.fr/web/comprendre-la-meteo/actualites?articleId=8990197

h/t IceAgeNow

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/12/coldest-antarctic-june-ever-recorded/

[ArMaP]

That is the headline of a July 12, 2014 article. Are we beginning to see world evidence of global cooling??

Only when the global temperatures get lower.

Local differences in temperatures do not mean that global temperatures are getting higher or lower, and one thing expected from global warming was that the extreme temperatures (both high and low) would get more extreme.

[WarToad]

.... one thing expected from global warming was that the extreme temperatures (both high and low) would get more extreme.

I remember reading this in several articles.  When more energy is in the system, you get higher highs, and also lower lows.

[Amaterasu]

Other unusual features of the June temperature record are an unusual excess of sunlight hours (11.8 hours rather than the normal 7.4 hours), and unusually light wind conditions.

What does THIS mean???  The days are longer than predicted?  By 4.4 hours???  Or what?

[ArMaP]

What does THIS mean???  The days are longer than predicted?  By 4.4 hours???  Or what?

Less hours with cloud cover = more hours with direct sunlight.

[Amaterasu]

Ahhhh.  It didn't specify why there was more sunlight.  So...  We're blocking sunlight with "geoengineering" to "keep it cool" while MORE sunlight seems to equate to lower temps at the south pole...?

Maybe the "geoengineering" is to keep Us warm...? 

[ArMaP]

So...  We're blocking sunlight with "geoengineering" to "keep it cool" while MORE sunlight seems to equate to lower temps at the south pole...?

It depends.

Less cloud coverage during the day lets more sunlight hit the surface, resulting in more energy received and, most likely, higher temperatures. During the night, the cloud cover prevents Earth to emit some of the heat received back to space, so a small cloud coverage results in lower temperatures.

During summer, with long days and small nights, less cloud coverage means more heat, but in winter, with long nights and small days, less cloud coverage means more heat radiated back to space and lower temperatures.

The weaker winds are also interesting, as it may mean that there's a lower difference in atmospheric pressures in the surrounding area, which may mean that there isn't such a great difference in temperatures in the whole area as before, as different temperatures create different atmospheric pressures and these create the winds.

Maybe the "geoengineering" is to keep Us warm...?

If that's what they want they should do it in the winter and not doing it in the summer.

[Amaterasu]

Well, yes, ArMaP.  I understand the principles You outlined there.  That's why I thought it odd that Antarctica had MORE sunlight, yet colder temps.