Disturbing Normalcy Of Arctic Ice Continues

Climate experts say that 90% of the ice has melted, which is why Arctic ice area is 100% of normal.

ScreenHunter_01 Jun. 06 19.13

ssmi1_ice_area.png (1667Ɨ1250)

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33 Responses to Disturbing Normalcy Of Arctic Ice Continues

  1. And Antarctic sea ice is has been above normal for about a year and half now, so it’s worse than they’d thought.

  2. DarrylB says:

    Would it not be great if the 2013 summer ice was above the 79 to now average?

  3. Chewer says:

    And then there’s nature’s natural mosquito repellant.
    http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/89799.html

  4. John Silver says:

    You can’t keep saying this, Mr Goddard.
    In the world of post-normal science, normal is abnormal.

  5. NevenA says:

    Any predictions for this melting season, Steve? Now is the perfect time to ask you, of course. šŸ˜›

    • Maslowski predicted ice-free in 2013. I take it that you agree?

      • NevenA says:

        Maslowski predicted 2016, Ā± 3 years. I agree that this is possible. As far as this year is concerned, right now I think that 2013 will go below 2007, barring continuous anomalous weather that is far from conducive to sea ice extent/area decrease (like we’ve seen in these first couple of weeks of the melting season). I’m far from sure that it will go below last year, though.

        But if things remain around this level of volume and FYI/MYI-ratio in coming years, a summer like we saw in 2007 will bring the Arctic very close to ice-free conditions in August/September, ie lower than 1 million km2.

        The weather still determines the outcome, but it’s a lot less dominant than in the pre-2005 period. Like we saw last year.

        But how about you, Steve? Where will 2013 end up?

        • 2013 will end with about 13 million km^2 of Arctic ice, like it does every year.
          http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php

        • NevenA says:

          Ah yes, the word games, I should’ve been more careful. Allow me to try again:

          Steve, where will the 2013 melting season end up? Will the minimum be above 2012? Will it be above 2007?

        • The sun is at its peak in the Arctic now, and ice area is right at the 30 year mean. Is there some reason you are not interested in living in the present and discussing all that SW radiation which is being reflected back into space?

        • NevenA says:

          Please, answer the question.

        • Why are you uninterested in the present?

        • NevenA says:

          I’m very interested in the present. As you know I’m running the Arctic Sea Ice blog and have set up the Arctic Sea Ice Graphs page that shows almost real time conditions in the Arctic.

          Why are you not answering my question concerning the 2013 minimum?

        • Nobody knows what the ice will be like in three months. Why are you obsessed with discussing it? There is almost no sunlight at that time and it has little effect on the SW radiative balance. June conditions are far more interesting from a climate viewpoint, and we have accurate information about June – as opposed to no information about September.

      • Ben says:

        RE: NevenA – “melting season”

        NevenA,

        Why are you so one-dimensional, as if ice is never expelled via the Fram strait, as if weeks long cyclones never break up the ice, as if modern technology has no impact on ice sheet integrity?

        Can you admit it is all of the above, and more?

  6. NevenA says:

    OK, Steve, thanks. Good luck with whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. See you around.

  7. michael says:

    The chart’s actually very informative. It shows that during the period 1979-2006, the average minimum ice extent for September has been six million square kilometers. In the years since, it has been no greater than five MK2… and in fact has fallen as low as three MK2. That’s a rather striking departure from normal, wouldn’t you say?

    Then there’s the matter of ice thinning, which has also been measured accurately. There’s just suddenly a lot less ice up there than there ever used to be. In winter, in summer, all the time now.

  8. michael says:

    Dear Steve, It looks like your method is to simply state unsourced assertions, and deny any evidence to the contrary. Am I right?

    For instance you say “Arctic ice area is 100% of normal and the highest for the date in the last 12 years.” But that is the direct opposite of true. Check this for actual evidence:

    http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

    You say “Arctic ice area is at a 12 year high for the date.” But that means nothing. The important clue that global climate has changed is found by comparing the years since 1998 with the years before that date. Minor deviations from one year to the next don’t affect the fact that something very new is happening now. Something that hasn’t happened since the end of the last ice age. You’re trying to play games with the statistics.

    And you say “Arctic temperatures have been running far below normal.” But again, you are both unsupported and way off. Arctic temps were running well above normal (that is, ERA40) this winter. And are only slightly below normal at present. See this:

    http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php

    Of course I’m biased. I like to reference the actual data.

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