Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A striking image of arctic sea ice concentrations in 2007

I thought this deserved it's own entry. I wonder how this year will shape up? Arctic sea ice has been falling very rapidly so far in May, but it's too early to say if arctic sea ice will reach a record low this year.



























Plus a couple of news stories I found interesting:

Murky exoplanet 'could host life'

Human arrival 'wiped out' Hawaii's unique crabs
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3 comments:

  1. MichaelMay 17, 2011 at 3:56 PM

    It's interesting to note how high the ice concentration remained through the season, with most of it between 90 and 100%, since winds tended to push the ice together. By contrast, last year had large areas of very low concentration, which lead to a higher extent despite much lower ice volume. Also, ice volume so far this year has been lower than last year (a record low) for every month, as shown here (a good blog to follow for sea ice); this has also been verified with measurements:

    "A preliminary evaluation of the measurement results shows that one-year-old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea (north of Canada/Alaska) is about 20-30 centimetres thinner this year than in the two previous years. In 2009 the ice thickness was 1.7 metres on average, in 2010 1.6 metres and in 2011 around 1.4 metres."

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  2. jttMay 21, 2011 at 1:49 PM

    Good vid report on Beijing water crisis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIJZUYmI82A&feature=player_embedded

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  3. StSimonsIslandGaGuysMay 23, 2011 at 10:20 AM

    Michael, it makes me wonder how thin all the 'multi-year' ice is. It seems to be retreating rapidly this May, although arctic ice always does, of course. My 'gut' is telling me that this summer will either set a new record low or be the second lowest on record.

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