MetaFilter posts tagged with GlobalWarming and arctic

Arctic icemelt unambiguous evidence

stbalbach — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:57:42 -0800

Arctic Melt update: Scientists now have unambiguous evidence that the theorized phenomenon known as "polar amplification" has in fact been occurring for the past 5 years. It was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years. "We're in a vicious positive feedback loop." Has the Arctic melt passed the point of no return?

Although researchers have documented a catastrophic loss of sea ice during the summer months over the past 20 years, they have not until now detected the definitive temperature signal that they could link with greenhouse-gas emissions. However, scientists [now] show that Arctic amplification has been under way for the past five years, and it will continue to intensify Arctic warming for the foreseeable future. Computer models of the global climate have for years suggested the Arctic will warm at a faster rate than the rest of the world due to Arctic amplification but many scientists believed this effect would only become measurable in the coming decades. However, a study by scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Colorado has found that amplification is already showing up as a marked increase in surface air temperatures within the Arctic region during the autumn period, when the sea ice begins to reform after the summer melting period.

The Northwest Passage

Glibpaxman — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:14:23 -0800

Scientists are now revising earlier projections about the speed at which global warming will impact the arctic ice sheet. By 2013 it could very well disappear in the summer months, opening up new sea lanes for commerce and, potentially, "a quarter of the earths oil and natural gas resources". Several arctic countries are thinking ahead, while it appears others have been for quite some time.

Santa set adrift

Knappster — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:18:30 -0800

For the first time in at least 125,000 years, the Arctic ice cap is an island. (prev iously)

September 2007 polar sea ice anomaly

sergeant sandwich — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:49:59 -0800

Video (8MB, MPEG) of arctic sea ice extent, recorded from January to September 2007. [other formats] This summer a dramatic decrease compared to previous years in the extent of the north pole ice cap was observed. Scientists are freaked out [bugmenot]. This summer, the Northwest Passage was open for a few weeks, allowing three ships to traverse it. This data was taken by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. Comparison with past years. More information here.

That forest is such a lush...

jrb223 — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:08:29 -0800

With global warming trends melting permafrost throughout the arctic circle, we may be seeing more and more of this phenomenon: Drunken Forests. An artist responds.

Apocalypse, Schmapocalypse

digaman — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:24:47 -0800

Global warming -- the upside: the entrepreneurs poised to make millions from new ports and shipping lanes in the formerly ice-bound Arctic circle. A fascinating New York Times article on the international land-grab following the news (reported here, discussed here, whitewashed here, et. al.) that the polar ice caps and Siberian permafrost are melting. Goodbye Gulf Stream, hello Club Med Santa-style -- first SUV to the North Pole wins!

The Arctic is melting

homunculus — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 11:26:35 -0800

The Arctic is melting, according to the Arctic Council report, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, which says the Arctic has lost 386,100 square miles of sea ice in the past 30 years, an area bigger than Texas and Arizona combined. A Pew Center report, Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S., describes how global warming is disrupting animals, plants and insects. Perhaps it's all an E.U. conspiracy. WorldChanging has a world press roundup.

Baked Alaska

homunculus — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 21:18:54 -0800

Melting into the ocean. In the Alaskan Arctic, villages like Shishmaref have a front row view of global warming.

another canary tips over

specialk420 — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:31:14 -0800

another canary tips over
as the administration (more specifically the white house council on environmental quality and its head james l. connaughton) continue to ignore and bury the warnings of the effects global warming from their own scientists.

gulf stream

stbalbach — Thu, 30 Jan 2003 11:00:26 -0800

The warm water ocean currents of the Gulf Stream are why London rarely gets snow yet Boston is fridged despite London being as far north as Montreal, Canada. New weather modeling research from Columbia University may turn this long-held belief on its head; London can thank the Rocky Mountains for its mild winters. Good news for the rest of Europe too in case the Gulf Stream stops due to Arctic melting.

rschram — Sat, 19 Aug 2000 07:43:40 -0800

Artic Ice Cap is now perfect for slushballs and snowmen
Once the North Pole was covered in that kind of hard, dry, icy snow that you couldn't pack. Now sping is here! Robin red-breast and the Easter Bunny can't be far behind. Let's pelt each other with snowballs and build a fort before it all melts away, and the long summer of human-made Armageddon melts us all. What a world, what a world. Not that we haven't seen it coming.