This month, as the results of data analyses come in, climate scientists are getting a more detailed, far clearer picture of the ‘State of the Poles’ and the effects of warming and climate change in these most extreme regions of our planet. Although this project is actually the culmination of two years work (encompassing 160 separate studies and costing 1.2 billion dollars) it has been officially deemed the ‘International Polar Year’ (IPY).
One of the most important findings of this project is a confirmation of what many climate scientists have suspected for a couple of years now–that the impact of climate change on our environment is happening at a much faster rate than previous computer models predicted. This is true even for the four major reports released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the last of which was released in 2007).
By Dana Nuccitelli •
September 8, 2008
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC),
Following a record rate of ice loss through the month of August, Arctic sea ice extent already stands as the second-lowest on record, further reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline. With approximately two weeks left in the melt season, the possibility of setting a new record annual minimum in September remains open.
A record was set for Arctic sea ice melt in 2007. Much was made of the sea ice “recovery” over the ensuing winter of 2007/2008. However, while the Arctic sea ice returned to an extent similar to that of the winter prior to the record melt, much of the new ice was very thin. Thus even though 2008 has been a cooler year than 2007 (partially due to a strong La Nina cycle), the new, thinner ice has proven to be more susceptible to melting, as the graphic following the jump illustrates.
By Joshua S Hill •
June 29, 2008
I’ve covered the fate of the Arctic sea-ice for almost a year now, watching as report after report came out spelling doom for our northern pole. At the beginning of September last year I wrote a post called “Summer Ice to Disappear by 2030,” in which I quoted Dr. Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the Boulder University of Colorado National Snow and Ice Data Center, saying that “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.”
Some near 10 months later, Dr. Serreze has predicted that, unless weather and ocean conditions change, it does not look like there will be any summer ice in the Arctic this year.
By Joshua S Hill •
May 4, 2008
There’s nothing quite as nice as a really catchy title that perfectly sums up your story. If you want to leave it at that, then you’ve probably got the whole of the story. However if you want to know just a bit more about how climate change is affecting our planet’s poles, then keep reading.
Speaking in a telephone briefing last Friday, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that the Arctic and Antarctic are exhibiting opposite effects to the climate change affecting our planet.
The Arctic is heating up in more than one way, as we saw last week when Russia planted its flag on the seafloor below in an apparent move to establish a claim to the ample oil and gas reserves buried beneath.
What’s disastrous for polar bears and Inuit subsistence hunters is emerging as a potentially huge — and destabilizing — fossil-fuel rush for the nations bordering the Arctic Ocean as the polar ice melts.
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