| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
07 Oct 2007 12:37:13 PM |
| Object: |
NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007 |
NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007
10.01.07
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/quikscat-20071001.html
PASADENA, Calif. - A new NASA-led study found a 23-percent loss in the
extent of the Arctic's thick, year-round sea ice cover during the past
two winters. This drastic reduction of perennial winter sea ice is the
primary cause of this summer's fastest-ever sea ice retreat on record
and subsequent smallest-ever extent of total Arctic coverage.
A team led by Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., studied trends in Arctic perennial ice cover by
combining data from NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite
with a computing model based on observations of sea ice drift from the
International Arctic Buoy Programme. QuikScat can identify and map
different classes of sea ice, including older, thicker perennial ice
and younger, thinner seasonal ice.
Image right: Sunset over the Arctic. Image credit: Jeremy Harbeck
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Between winter 2005 and winter 2007, the perennial ice shrunk by an
area the size of Texas and California combined. This severe loss
continues a trend of rapid decreases in perennial ice extent in this
decade. Study results will be published Oct. 4 in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters.
The scientists observed less perennial ice cover in March 2007 than
ever before, with the thick ice confined to the Arctic Ocean north of
Canada. Consequently, the Arctic Ocean was dominated by thinner
seasonal ice that melts faster. This ice is more easily compressed and
responds more quickly to being pushed out of the Arctic by winds.
Those thinner seasonal ice conditions facilitated the ice loss,
leading to this year's record low amount of total Arctic sea ice.
Nghiem said the rapid decline in winter perennial ice the past two
years was caused by unusual winds. "Unusual atmospheric conditions set
up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the
Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he
said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in
the warmer waters.
"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
The Arctic Ocean's shift from perennial to seasonal ice is
preconditioning the sea ice cover there for more efficient melting and
further ice reductions each summer. The shift to seasonal ice
decreases the reflectivity of Earth's surface and allows more solar
energy to be absorbed in the ice-ocean system.
The perennial sea ice pattern change was deduced by using the buoy
computing model infused with 50 years of data from drifting buoys and
measurement camps to track sea ice movement around the Arctic Ocean.
From the 1970s through the 1990s, perennial ice declined by about
500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles) each decade. Since
2000, that amount of decline has nearly tripled.
Results from the buoy model were verified against the past eight years
of QuikScat observations, which have much better resolution and
coverage. The QuikScat data were verified with field experiments
conducted aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, as well as by
sea ice charts derived from multiple satellite data sources by
analysts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
National Ice Center in Suitland, Md.
The new study differs significantly from other recent studies that
only looked at the Arctic's total sea ice extent. "Our study applies
QuikScat's unique capabilities to examine how the composition of
Arctic sea ice is changing, which is crucial to understanding Arctic
sea ice mass balance and overall Arctic climate stability," Ngheim
said.
Pablo Clemente-Colon of the National Ice Center, Suitland, Md., said
the rapid reduction of Arctic perennial sea ice requires an urgent
reassessment of sea ice forecast model predictions and of potential
impacts to local weather and climate, as well as shipping and other
maritime operations in the region. "Improving ice forecast models will
require new physical insights and understanding of complex Arctic
processes and interactions."
Other organizations participating in the study include the University
of Washington's Polar Science Center, Seattle; and the U.S. Army Cold
Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, N.H.
Media also may contact: Sandra Hines, University of Washington,
206-543-2580; Marie Darling, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and
Engineering Laboratory, 603-646-4292; Lt. James Brinkley, National Ice
Center, 301-394-3018; and Peter Weiss, American Geophysical Union,
Washington, 202-777-7507.
For more information about QuikScat, visit:
http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm .
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
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| User: "kT" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in2007 |
07 Oct 2007 03:14:37 PM |
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Captain Compassion wrote:
"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
That is so weird. What is unusual about the beginning of this century?
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| User: "Phlip" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007 |
07 Oct 2007 03:13:32 PM |
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"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
That is so weird. What is unusual about the beginning of this century?
Uh, the Industrial Revolution mebbe??
--
Phlip
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007 |
07 Oct 2007 07:35:35 PM |
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On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:14:37 -0700, kT <cosmic@lifeform.org> wrote:
Captain Compassion wrote:
"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
That is so weird. What is unusual about the beginning of this century?
Nothing but a date. Notice that Nasa doesn't attribute the melting to
GW.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "Slob" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in2007 |
07 Oct 2007 01:30:49 PM |
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kT wrote:
Captain Compassion wrote:
"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
That is so weird. What is unusual about the beginning of this century?
that is close to when we started keeping detailed weather data?
.
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007 |
07 Oct 2007 07:36:40 PM |
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On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:30:49 -0400, Slob <pre@ch.er> wrote:
kT wrote:
Captain Compassion wrote:
"The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an
unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of
this century," Nghiem said.
That is so weird. What is unusual about the beginning of this century?
that is close to when we started keeping detailed weather data?
This century began in 2000.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "the_blogologist" |
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| Title: Re: NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007 |
07 Oct 2007 09:46:31 PM |
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NASA is always hard at work discovering more things that need government
funding.
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