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An Unusual Melt Season In Artic

Posted by Average Voter on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 10:48:53 PM
   More evidence of changing times in the arctic.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the 2008 melt season was the higher-than-average retention of first-year sea ice (see earlier entries, including April 7).  Relatively thin first-year ice is more prone to melting out completely than older, thicker ice. However, more of this year’s first-year ice survived the melt season than is typical. Sea ice age maps from Sheldon Drobot, our colleague at the University of Colorado at Boulder, show that much more first-year ice survived in 2008 than in 2007. This is one of the reasons that 2008 did not break last year's record-low minimum.

One cause of the high first-year ice survival rate was that this summer was cooler than in 2007. Lower temperatures slowed the melt rate in the early part of the season. While conditions in August favored rapid ice loss, they were not enough to make up for this early-season "cushion." Furthermore, much of this year's first-year ice was located at higher latitudes than in 2007, covering even the geographic North Pole. Regions that are far north have lower melt rates because they receive less solar energy than more southerly regions.
 
   Interesting...now if mother nature can string a few of these together and next thing you know, we will be in a mini ice-age again. It is only one year after all, but this is what some have said is going to happen.
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Alaskan Glaciers On The Mend?

Posted by Average Voter on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 10:30:42 PM
   Could this be the start of a reversal in the saga of melting Alaskan glaciers?
 
Two hundred years of glacial shrinkage in Alaska, and then came the winter and summer of 2007-2008.

Unusually large amounts of winter snow were followed by unusually chill temperatures in June, July and August.

"In mid-June, I was surprised to see snow still at sea level in Prince William Sound," said U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist Bruce Molnia. "On the Juneau Icefield, there was still 20 feet of new snow on the surface of the Taku Glacier in late July. At Bering Glacier, a landslide I am studying, located at about 1,500 feet elevation, did not become snow free until early August.

"In general, the weather this summer was the worst I have seen in at least 20 years."
 
   Where's the national news on this story? The MSM is quick to point out when the ice is melting, yet two hundred years of ice shrinkage and suddenly a year of glacier growth and it made the Anchorage Daily News. It's a small miracle that it got to the paper at all, so a guess national coverage would be asking a bit too much.

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Out Of Commision And Back Again

Posted by Average Voter on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:49:27 PM
   If you remember last year about this same time, I had a bought with a kidney stone. A week ago last Sunday, my appendix decided to rupture and had to have some surgury to remove the mess that was left behind. The surgeon told me afterwards that my inards were quite messed up and to plan on two to three weeks in the hospital. Fortunantly, with lots of prayers, I was out in nine days with the surgeon releasing me quite amazed at how well I recovered, but that I should rest and visit him in a week. Thank GOD!
 
   So, I guess that will leave me with some time to catch up on my blogging. I am sure their is alot out there that has happened in the realm of climate change, even if all the attention is on the economy right now. (I don't even want to look at my 401K; if I even have any money to look at.)
     But somehow, I'm thinking that this poor economy is not going to bode well for climate change, and I was right. This article is a couple of weeks old, but it's telling of the relative importance of climate change amongst real world problems.
 
   Then we have the whole EU coming to the realization that reducing CO2 by 20% in 12 years is simply too expensive. When the money is flowing, tackling CO2 is a great idea, but not going into an economic tail spin is an even better idea. Just think if they had inacted this stuff before this global economic situation started?
 
 
  
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