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Overheated Arctic sign of climate change 'vicious circle'

Freakishly high temperatures in the Arctic driven by heat-packed oceans and northward winds have been reinforced by a "vicious circle" of climate change, scientists said Thursday.

phys.org

Air above the Polar ice cap has been 9-12 degrees Celsius (16.2 to 21.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average during the last four weeks, according the data from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which tracks hourly changes in Arctic weather.

And during several days last week, temperatures above the North Pole were a balmy zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), a full 20C (36F) above the levels typical for mid-November, said Martin Stendel, a DMI climate researcher based in Copenhagen.

"This is by far the highest recorded" in the era of satellite data, starting in 1979, he told AFP.

The US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice extent in October was the lowest on record, some 6.4 million square kilometres (2.5 million square miles).

Ice cover at the top of the globe shrank to its smallest area in 2016—some 4.14 million sq km (1.6 million sq miles)—on September 16.

"The winds carrying this heat is a temporary—and fairly unprecedented—weather phenomenon," said Valerie Masson Delmotte, a scientist at the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory in Paris.

A second contributor is the record-strong Pacific Ocean El Nino that tapered off earlier this year—after pumping a couple tenths of a degree of added warming into the atmosphere. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-11-overheated-arctic-climate-vicious-circle.html#jCp

“Despite onset of #PolarNight, temperatures near #NorthPole increasing. Extraordinary situation right now in #Arctic, w/record low #seaice,” added Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.

This is the second year in a row that temperatures near the North Pole have risen to freakishly warm levels. During 2015’s final days, the temperature near the Pole spiked to the melting point thanks to a massive storm that pumped warm air into the region.

So what’s going on here?

“It’s about 20C [36 degrees Fahrenheit] warmer than normal over most of the Arctic Ocean, along with cold anomalies of about the same magnitude over north-central Asia,” Jennifer Francis, an Arctic specialist at Rutgers University, said by email Wednesday.

“The Arctic warmth is the result of a combination of record-low sea-ice extent for this time of year, probably very thin ice, and plenty of warm/moist air from lower latitudes being driven northward by a very wavy jet stream.”

“The sea ice is at a record low right now, for this time of year, that’s one thing,” Serreze said. “And why it’s so low — again, there’s so much heat in the upper ocean in these ice-free areas, the ice just can’t form right now. The ocean’s just got to get rid of this heat somehow, and it’s having a hard time doing so.”

Another Global Warming Record: Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Record Low Maximum

Global warming is melting our poles: Arctic sea ice was at a record low maximum in March.

www.slate.com

The North Pole’s ice is disappearing as we watch: This year, the Arctic sea ice had the lowest winter maximum extent on record.

Every year the ice melts in the summer and grows in the winter. Although the specific date varies, it generally reaches its maximum amount in March. In 2016, that maximum was likely reached on March 24, with an extent measured at 14.52 million square kilometers.

I want to be clear here: Last year’s sea ice had a maximum extent of 14.54 million square kilometers. This year’s max is technically lower than that, but statistically they are very close. However, the point still stands: Over time, the trend we’re seeing is a loss of sea ice. The 13 lowest maximum extents ever seen have all been in the past 13 years. That is very, very bad.

The Arctic has been experiencing nearly unbelievable record temperatures. December, January, and February were incredibly hot compared with normal. In that past month alone, much of the Arctic saw temperatures more than 11° C higher than average—that’s 20° F. This contributed to the record low amounts of ice seen.

In fact, some computer models show that the Arctic could see an ice-free summer as early as 2040. The volume of sea ice is dropping at a rate of about 3,000 cubic kilometers per decade, and at its minimum (reached in September every year) it’s now at roughly 6,000 cubic kilometers. If this rate continues, then yes, 2040 sounds about right.

Combine this with the 420 billion tons of land ice lost from Greenland and Antarctica every year—yes, every year—and you can see we’re running history’s most dangerous experiment on the only planet that can sustain our lives. And be sure of this: We are not seeing changes due to a natural cycle. This is our fault.

The scary thing is, we’re not really sure how this will affect the climate, but no matter how you slice it, it won’t be good. The introduction of billions of tons of fresh water into the oceans can disrupt the way temperatures are regulated across the planet,with vast and severe repercussions.

I cannot stress this enough: Global warming is real, it’s disastrously affecting our climate, and the economic impact alone will be crushing. And that’s not to mention the oceans becoming acidified, extreme weather on the rise, sea levels rising, and a host of other catastrophic effects.