The icy continent has the least sea ice on record this summerThis time of year marks the rough maxim
The icy continent has the least sea ice on record this summerThis time of year marks the rough maximum and minimum extent of the frozen sea over or surrounding the world’s poles, depending on which hemisphere’s perspective you choose to take. While the northern ice cap has been steadily diminishing over the last decades, the southern one seemed healthier, even growing somewhat during the last few decades and reaching a record maximum 2 years ago (much to the delight of climate change deniers, though these satellite measurements only date back to 1979). The US National Snow and Ice Data Centre recorded this year’s contraction, to 883,000 square km, a touch lower than the previous record holder in 1997. It is too early to tell whether this is a single year blip, or an emerging trend, though scientists are keeping a close eye on events. The next couple of years should start to answer the question, though the worry is that a tipping point may have been reached in the far south of the globe.In news from the other side, the northern sea ice cap is at its smallest maximum extent on record as well. The last three years have all been the warmest on record and have seen a horrendous El Nino event (see http://bit.ly/2a83bza and links therein), and 9/10 of the warmest years have been since the turn of the millennium, the exception being the last king hell El Nino in 1998. As for what the future holds the laws of physics are simple: more heat, more disruptions to weather patterns, more intense rainfall and drought, rising seas and shifting ecosystems.The unwitting experiment we performed on our atmosphere over the last few centuries is done, we have passed to a 400ppm CO2 equivalent world, 180 ppm more than the hottest interglacial era in the last 3 million years, and will not be returning below it in my lifetime I suspect. Last time this happened, there was no ice left, anywhere on Earth, and sea levels were a good 80 metres higher.LozImage credit: NASAhttp://bit.ly/2kWzEAGhttp://bit.ly/2lI6w1F -- source link
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