June 8, 2010
Arctic sea ice extent declines rapidly in May
In May, Arctic air temperatures remained above average, and sea ice extent declined at a rapid pace. At the end of the month, extent fell near the level recorded in 2006, the lowest in the satellite record for the end of May. Analysis from scientists at the University of Washington suggests that ice volume has continued to decline compared to recent years. However, it is too soon to say whether Arctic ice extent will reach another record low this summer—that will depend on the weather and wind conditions over the next few months.
map from space showing sea ice extent, continentsFigure 1. Arctic sea ice extent for May 2010 was 13.10 million square kilometers (5.06 million square miles). The magenta line shows the 1979 to 2000 median extent for that month. The black cross indicates the geographic North Pole. Sea Ice Index data. About the data.
—Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Arctic sea ice extent averaged 13.10 million square kilometers (5.06 million square miles) for the month of May, 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average. The rate of ice extent decline for the month was 68,000 kilometers (26,000 square miles) per day, almost 50% more than the average rate of -46,000 kilometers (18,000 square miles) per day. This rate of loss is the highest for the month of May during the satellite record.
Ice extent remained slightly above average in the Bering Sea, and below average in the Barents Sea north of Scandinavia, and in Baffin Bay.
Goodness knows, I'm no expert but the from what I see, we're clearly on track for the earliest opening of both the Northwest [Canadian] and Northern [Russian] Arctic openings. Looks like we'll be seeing 'permanent ice bound' areas of the Canadian archipelago and Siberia exposed to more melting away of land based glacial ice masses, exposing more land to exposure of the solar energy.
Methane levels in the Arctic have been increasing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.
Such Arctic soils currently lock away billions of tonnes of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide ..
This is a "runaway effect", a positive feedback loop. The short term effect of methane as a GHG is 72 times that of CO2, the effects of releasing any substantial amount of this gas in a local environment [methane tends to mix slowly, as it's slightly lighter than air] can provide a 'knock on effect' to ramp up the greenhouse effect.
Paul Palmer, a scientist at Edinburgh University who worked on the new study, said: "High latitude wetlands are currently only a small source of methane but for these emissions to increase by a third in just five years is very significant. It shows that even a relatively small amount of warming can cause a large increase in the amount of methane emissions."
Global warming is occuring twice as fast in the Arctic than anywhere else on Earth. Some regions have already warmed by 2.5C, and temperatures there are projected to increase by more than 10C by 2100 if carbon emissions continue to rise at current rates.
A few short months ago, climate change denialists were having their jollies talking up how "the ice was rebounding in the Arctic at a 'record pace'" in March and early April [when in reality, it failed to even achieve the average levels expected from 1979-2000]. It does appear that the seasonal cycle of freezing and re-melting has been pushed forward, meaning a later start to the beginning of the melting season. This may be due to the new weather global patterns that are forced to accommodate the massive changes taking place in the Arctic region.
But there's little mistaking now that the inexorable march towards an ice free Arctic in summer months continues. This year, from the color photo above it appears what remains of multi-year ice sitting north of Greenland appears to be under threat of melting away. With single year ice predominating in the Arctic, it will be only a matter of time before more radical changes are observed, perhaps within this decade.