Arctic Ice Discussion (The Melt)

[BornFromTheVoid]

Perhaps a thread should be started where we can talk about both without being chastised. Climate is a global phenomenon after all?

Agreed. Perhaps you could suggest it to a mod?

[Methuselah]

Perhaps a thread should be started where we can talk about both without being chastised. Climate is a global phenomenon after all?

We used to have one of those, but it got really quite hard to follow. And newbies had not the faintest idea where they were...

[Interitus]

Well the link was to Goddard - blogs and general stuff go "In the news" thread no?

[Gray-Wolf]

Was there a squirrel?

[paul tall]

Yes, buried under millions of tonnes of Antarctic ice.

You can talk about it, and it has been talked about, in the Antarctic Ice Discussion thread.

That'll be the thread that everybody ignores because it's not going with the programme.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Yes, buried under millions of tonnes of Antarctic ice.

That'll be the thread that everybody ignores because it's not going with the programme.

I don't really consider 42 posts in the last 5 days as being ignored... do you?

Especially considering that's exactly the same as this thread (including our 2 posts!).

[BornFromTheVoid]

It's somewhat official now.

On September 16, Arctic sea ice appeared to have reached its minimum extent for the year of 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). This is the lowest seasonal minimum extent in the satellite record since 1979 and reinforces the long-term downward trend in Arctic ice extent. The sea ice extent will now begin its seasonal increase through autumn and winter

http://nsidc.org/arc...asonal-minimum/

[knocker]

This is just to confirm BFTVs excellent posts although there is an excellent video of the storm. Oh dear posting at the same time.

The frozen cap of the Arctic Ocean appears to have reached its annual summertime minimum extent and broken a new record low on Sept. 16, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has reported. Analysis of satellite data by NASA and the NASA-supported NSIDC at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed that the sea ice extent shrunk to 1.32 million square miles (3.41 million square kilometers).

The new record minimum measures almost 300,000 square miles less than the previous lowest extent in the satellite record, set in mid-September 2007, of 1.61 million square miles (4.17 million square kilometers). For comparison, the state of Texas measures around 268,600 square miles.

NSIDC cautioned that, although Sept. 16 seems to be the annual minimum, there's still time for winds to change and compact the ice floes, potentially reducing the sea ice extent further. NASA and NSIDC will release a complete analysis of the 2012 melt season next month, once all data for September are available.

Arctic sea ice cover naturally grows during the dark Arctic winters and retreats when the sun re-appears in the spring. But the sea ice minimum summertime extent, which is normally reached in September, has been decreasing over the last three decades as Arctic ocean and air temperatures have increased. This year's minimum extent is approximately half the size of the average extent from 1979 to 2000. This year's minimum extent also marks the first time Arctic sea ice has dipped below 4 million square kilometers.

Satellite data reveal how the new record low Arctic sea ice extent, from Sept. 16, 2012, compares to the average minimum extent over the past 30 years (in yellow). Sea ice extent maps are derived from data captured by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer aboard NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager on multiple satellites from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Credit: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

http://www.nasa.gov/...-seaicemin.html

Edited September 20, 2012 by knocker

[Coast]

Daily Image Update: Wed., September 19, 2012

[Methuselah]

Not to worry, a 'recovery' is just around the corner?

[Coast]

Not to worry, a recovery is just around the corner?

I think the problem is Pete this is a record melt and although we look we have reached(or very nearly) the point of re-freeze, it's not by any means certain amounts will return to previous figures and that the trend may spiral down again next year. I bet the oil companies drilling out there are happy though as they have had better access.....

MPs demand moratorium on Arctic oil drilling

Commons environment committee urges halt to exploration until safety improves, and calls for unlimited pollution penalties and creation of 'no-drill zone'

British MPs are calling on Shell and others to halt "reckless" oil and gas drilling in the Arctic until stronger safety measures are put in place. Politicians also want to impose "unlimited" financial liability on operators and the creation of a "no-drill zone" in a new environmental sanctuary.

The uncompromising demands have angered the energy industry but come just days after alarming new evidence has emerged about Arctic sea ice melting at record levels. They also come on the day that an environment committee of MEPs in Brussels called for tougher financial guarantees from oil companies to ensure they could pay for spills in European waters.

The British initiatives are contained in a report published on Thursday from the cross-party environmental audit committee (EAC) of the House of Commons, which warns that the vulnerable Arctic region is being endangered by a misguided search for hydrocarbons.

"The shocking speed at which the Arctic sea ice is melting should be a wake-up call to the world that we need to phase out fossil fuels fast," said the committee chair, Joan Walley MP. "Instead we are witnessing a reckless gold rush in this pristine wilderness as big companies and governments make a grab for the world's last untapped oil and gas reserves."

She told Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday: "I think the particular problem is that when you are talking about offshore drilling and you are talking about drilling in such harsh circumstances as the Arctic, we have to have proven techniques in place first of all, and we're not convinced that that is currently the case. It is for that reason that we want to see all drilling halted until we've got the highest available environmental standards in place."

The EAC said it had heard "compelling evidence" from experts during several months of hearings that if a blowout occurred just before the dark Arctic winter returned it would not be possible to cap any oil spill until the following summer. Shell is currently in the middle of an exploration attempt in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, but has had to call off immediate drilling due to dangers from ice and a faulty safety dome, which would be used for capping wells in the event of a blowout. The Anglo-Dutch group has already been heavily criticised for allegedly failing to properly test a new dome.

ExxonMobil, Gazprom and others are either already working or preparing to operate in the Arctic region off Russia, Greenland or Alaska. The first report by MPs into the new rush for resources, entitled "Protecting the Arctic", says there should be a drilling moratorium until "the highest available" environmental standards can be imposed right across the far north. The committee believes that a "preferably unlimited" financial liability regime should be imposed for all oil and gas operations in the area. And it says the petroleum industry should set up a special group to peer-review and publicly report on all safety-related operating practices.

The British government has no legal rights to limit drilling around the waters of the far north but is an observer on the Arctic Council. However the committee believes that the UK should be pushing for a special zone to be created that would be off limits for all drilling – as in Antarctica: "We see the development of such a sanctuary as a prerequisite for further development of the Arctic's natural resources."

But the committee also expresses deeper concerns about the British government's support for UK companies drilling worldwide at a time when it is trying to reduce carbon emissions at home. The energy industry argues that new oil reserves must be found to meet growing demands worldwide and says it can operate safely, having learned lessons from BP's catastrophic accident with the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

"Our record throughout 50 years' experience of operating in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions demonstrates that we have the technical expertise to explore for and produce oil and gas safely and responsibly," said a Shell spokesman. Cairn Energy, which has been at the forefront of drilling off Greenland, said British MPs should not interfere. "Cairn believes that governments and their people have the right to explore for natural resources in their sovereign territory, with the potential to strengthen both their energy security and economy," it added.

But the Green party MP Caroline Lucas, another member of the EAC who has campaigned hard on the issue for many years, believes otherwise. She said: "The UK government now has a responsibility to respond to this EAC report and show vital leadership on the issue by doing all it can to urgently secure a moratorium on Arctic drilling – starting with companies registered in this country."

http://www.guardian....g?newsfeed=true

[Methuselah]

I think the problem is Pete this is a record melt and although we look we have reached(or very nearly) the point of re-freeze, it's not by any means certain amounts will return to previous figures and that the trend may spiral down again next year. I bet the oil companies drilling out there are happy though as they have had better access.....

Sorry coasty. I forgot the quote-marks!

[BornFromTheVoid]

That BBC article on the Arctic linked to by Summer Sun has some very good charts and expert comments, 'tis a very good read for a mainstream news site.

[knocker]

Video from NOAA.

[reef]

Closing this one now as it seems we've reached the bottom (waits for a massive drop now )

New thread for the refreeze here:

http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/74399-arctic-ice-discussion-the-refreeze-2012-2013/