August 27, 2012
BURBANK, CA -- First off, a very happy birthday to my Grandma Joan in Texas! We celebrated with her a couple of weeks ago, but today is her actual 80th birthday.
Today we got evidence back from NASA's earth-monitoring satellites that confirmed Arctic (northern) sea ice has reached a record-low, as monitored yesterday (August 26, 2012). As Earth continues to warm, this is more or less expected every few years. Nonetheless, as the records are consistently broken, we have yet greater evidence proving global warming and rapidly accelerating global warming in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The previous record-low for Arctic sea ice was September 18, 2007 (see image below).
The fact that the record has been broken some three weeks earlier this time means that while the record was broken as of yesterday, the ultimate low is going to shatter the record. In 2007, minimum sea ice extent covered 1.61 million square miles. Yesterday sea ice covered 1.58 million square miles, but for the next few weeks, that is expected to continue to decrease. On average, the annual minimum occurs in mid-September.
One thing that the satellite data does not show is the thickness of the ice. Submarine data, by contrast, has proven that the sea ice is not only shrinking in surface area coverage, but it is indeed thinning too (this makes logical sense, but from a scientific standpoint it is important to clarify). It is this thinning that leaves sea ice susceptible to strong storms. Indeed, two weeks ago a huge storm came through and took a ton of sea ice with it. A few decades ago, the ice would have been thick enough for the same storm to have little-to-no impact.
Why is any of this important? Well, there are a bunch of reasons, but I will give you the two most important ones. Obviously melting ice turns to water. Arctic sea ice sits on the ocean, so the net result is as more sea ice melts, global sea levels rise. Melting another million square miles of sea ice would have an enormous impact in low-lying areas (Maldives and Tuvalu are appropriately-cited examples of countries that will literally disappear with such large sea level rises, but the impacts will occur worldwide - Manhattan wouldn't fare so well if these trends continue either). The second biggest impact, I would argue, is in a loss of planetary albedo. Snow and ice reflect massive amounts of sunlight and heat from the sun right back into space. Water and land, by contrast, do more to absorb heat instead of reflecting it away. This is a downward spiral effect. As there is less sea ice, more heat is absorbed into Earth's atmosphere. This in turn increases temperatures and thus melts more sea ice. The key is to stop this cycle before it becomes a runaway freight train. Cynics would argue it is already too late. I disagree - everyone can do their part to reduce their carbon footprints and thus the corresponding impact on global warming. Buy an electric or hybrid car. Stop driving so much. Recycle almost everything (a good goal that is also realistic is 75% of your waste should be recycled). Buy energy star electronic products, live and work in LEED-certified buildings, buy renewable energy from your utility providers, and use them yourself too. Charge your cell phone in your car instead of your house. Or in your house, use mini solar panels instead of the wall. Taken individually there is not a huge impact. On a global scale, it is a truly global impact.
UPDATE - Check out this article (September 6) about the impact of the continuing decrease in Arctic ice levels. This is going to have a huge impact on climate cycles in Alaska, Canada, and much more so in the UK and Norway.
UPDATE 2 - Another article linking the Arctic sea ice decline to global warming, this time from the Christian Science Monitor.
BURBANK, CA -- First off, a very happy birthday to my Grandma Joan in Texas! We celebrated with her a couple of weeks ago, but today is her actual 80th birthday.
Today we got evidence back from NASA's earth-monitoring satellites that confirmed Arctic (northern) sea ice has reached a record-low, as monitored yesterday (August 26, 2012). As Earth continues to warm, this is more or less expected every few years. Nonetheless, as the records are consistently broken, we have yet greater evidence proving global warming and rapidly accelerating global warming in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The previous record-low for Arctic sea ice was September 18, 2007 (see image below).
 |
 |
| Sea ice on August 26, 2012, yesterday. The line is the average minimum extent from 1979-2010. |
Why is any of this important? Well, there are a bunch of reasons, but I will give you the two most important ones. Obviously melting ice turns to water. Arctic sea ice sits on the ocean, so the net result is as more sea ice melts, global sea levels rise. Melting another million square miles of sea ice would have an enormous impact in low-lying areas (Maldives and Tuvalu are appropriately-cited examples of countries that will literally disappear with such large sea level rises, but the impacts will occur worldwide - Manhattan wouldn't fare so well if these trends continue either). The second biggest impact, I would argue, is in a loss of planetary albedo. Snow and ice reflect massive amounts of sunlight and heat from the sun right back into space. Water and land, by contrast, do more to absorb heat instead of reflecting it away. This is a downward spiral effect. As there is less sea ice, more heat is absorbed into Earth's atmosphere. This in turn increases temperatures and thus melts more sea ice. The key is to stop this cycle before it becomes a runaway freight train. Cynics would argue it is already too late. I disagree - everyone can do their part to reduce their carbon footprints and thus the corresponding impact on global warming. Buy an electric or hybrid car. Stop driving so much. Recycle almost everything (a good goal that is also realistic is 75% of your waste should be recycled). Buy energy star electronic products, live and work in LEED-certified buildings, buy renewable energy from your utility providers, and use them yourself too. Charge your cell phone in your car instead of your house. Or in your house, use mini solar panels instead of the wall. Taken individually there is not a huge impact. On a global scale, it is a truly global impact.
UPDATE - Check out this article (September 6) about the impact of the continuing decrease in Arctic ice levels. This is going to have a huge impact on climate cycles in Alaska, Canada, and much more so in the UK and Norway.
UPDATE 2 - Another article linking the Arctic sea ice decline to global warming, this time from the Christian Science Monitor.
No comments:
Post a Comment