NOAA/NASA/NSIDC: Arctic ice is alarmingly scarce and thin

[RedEarth]

NOAA/NASA/NSIDC: Arctic ice is alarmingly scarce and thin
Yes, I know you’ve all heard we’ve had “record” refreezing of Arctic ice. Big shock, there. We had record melting followed by a temporary cooling La Niña event. What those denier/delayer-1000 talking points don’t tell you is that the refrozen ice is very thin and still at record low levels following the staggering ice loss this summer.

To set the record straight, on Wednesday, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA had a teleconference to show the surprising and alarming new data from NASA’s ICESat satellite, which revealed over the past year “the steepest yearly decline in perennial ice on record.



The key point is that ice volume is ice area times ice thickness. The seasonal ice (1 year or less old) is thinner and will quickly melt away and disburse in the wind. This is global warming, folks:

On March 18 the scientists said they believe that the increased area of sea ice this winter is due to recent weather conditions, while the decline in perennial ice reflects the longer-term warming climate trend and is a result of increased melting during summer and greater movement of the older ice out of the Arctic.

The Washington Post has a must-read story on this today:

“Because we had a cold winter, the public might think things have gotten better,” said Walter Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “In fact, the loss of the perennial ice makes clear that they’re not getting better at all.“

The surprising drop in perennial ice makes the fast-changing region more unstable, because the thinner seasonal ice melts readily in summer….

Flying over the Arctic, one might perceive the sea ice cover as broad, Meier said, but that apparent breadth hides the fact that the ice is so thin. “It’s a facade, like a Hollywood set,” he said. “There’s no building behind it.”

What a perfect metaphor for the delayers. Their arguments seem solid and impressive, but “It’s a facade, like a Hollywood set. There’s no building behind it.”

http://climateprogress.org/2008/03/19/noaanasansidc-arctic-ice-is-alarmingly-scarce-and-thin/

[Delphinus]

1. OMG! RedEarth,

You took the very words I was going to use in my post!
What a perfect metaphor for the delayers. Their arguments seem solid and impressive, but “It’s a facade, like a Hollywood set. There’s no building behind it.”

Talk about great minds thinking alike! :toast:

[hatrack]

2. Gosh. It's almost as if things were happening . . . .

. . . faster than expected.

Huh. Who knew?

[XemaSab]

4. Nobody expects "faster than expected."

:P

[hatrack]

7. It's not the only thing people don't expect . . .

[hatrack]

3. K&R

nt

[hunter]

5. It's not a big a stretch to assume all that one year ice will melt this summer.

Along with some big chunks of the two year ice.

[Nihil]

6. And,once that has melted, ...

... the heat that would have been attacking the large area of arctic
ice will combine with the additional heat that would previously have
been reflected by the albedo of ice (vs dark water) to do some really
quick (climate-wise) critical damage on the remaining "old" ice.

Oh joy.
:-(

[NickB79]

8. So, when do the Greenland glaciers slide into the ocean?

How much effect does the Arctic ice sheet have in holding back Greenland's glaciers from rushing into the ocean at a break-neck speed? If there is widespread calving of ice once the Arctic goes ice-free, we're going to see coastal cities going underwater -

(drumroll please)

FASTER THAN EXPECTED!

[Systematic Chaos]

9. Well then listen to Maynard James Keenan

LEARN TO SWIM!!!

:puke: