Arctic sea ice update - will this year%26#039;s melt break last year%26#039;s record? There was a lot of fuss made about a few scientists%26#039; predictions that the north pole could potentially be ice-free as early as the end of this summer. For a while it appeared that the melt would fall well short of last year%26#039;s record, and certain people made a big deal about that.

Looking at the daily artic sea ice extent data, it%26#039;s looking like the predictions may have been justified. Normally by August the melt has begun to slow, but because so much of the arctic ice this year is new, thin ice (because so much melted last year), the sea ice melt has not yet begun to slow down this year.

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/image...

Not that this data proves or disproves global warming - either way the long-term trend is dramatically downward

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/n_plo...

But considering the updated data, do you think the arctic sea ice melt this year will break last year%26#039;s record?

Additional Details

1 week ago

411 - believe it or not, I (and climate scientists) have considered the obvious fact that the planet%26#039;s climate changes naturally. Perhaps you should move beyond this utterly obvious fact and consider more information.

1 week ago

aceking - try looking at a month after the spring! Looking at May while we%26#039;re in August is classic cherrypicking.

The june comparisons are almost identical(28yrs) . Your point ?

http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/bist/bist.pl?an...

and below freezing at night in other parts of Alaska--
In case the point isn%26#039;t obvious to those that don%26#039;t understand science or can%26#039;t think in long term, the sea levels represent approximate ice levels. When the sea level is high, ice is low and vice versa. You may notice a rising trend in the sea levels for the last few thousand years. I think it is pretty silly to assume you live in a magical time where suddenly those rising sea levels are no longer natural but must be our fault. Before preaching science, learn a little about it first.

JPL doubts that Arctic Sea Ice changes are due to ‘Global Warming’
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?re...

“Our study confirms many changes seen in upper Arctic Ocean circulation in the 1990s were mostly decadal in nature, rather than trends caused by global warming,%26quot; said Morison.

%26quot;While some 1990s climate trends, such as declines in Arctic sea ice extent, have continued, these results suggest at least for the %26#039;wet%26#039; part of the Arctic -- the Arctic Ocean -- circulation reverted to conditions like those prevalent before the 1990s,%26quot; he added.

The Arctic Oscillation was fairly stable until about 1970, but then varied on more or less decadal time scales, with signs of an underlying upward trend, until the late 1990s, when it again stabilized. During its strong counterclockwise phase in the 1990s, the Arctic environment changed markedly, with the upper Arctic Ocean undergoing major changes that persisted into this century. Many scientists viewed the changes as evidence of an ongoing climate shift, raising concerns about the effects of global warming on the Arctic.

Morison said data gathered by Grace and the bottom pressure gauges since publication of the paper earlier this year highlight how short-lived the ocean circulation changes can be. The newer data indicate the bottom pressure has increased back toward its 2002 level.

%26quot;The winter of 2006-2007 was another high Arctic Oscillation year and summer sea ice extent reached a new minimum,%26quot; he said. %26quot;It is too early to say, but it looks as though the Arctic Ocean is ready to start swinging back to the counterclockwise circulation pattern of the 1990s again.%26quot;

• Answer hidden due to its low rating

  probably, dude the worlds ending get use to it.