Let’s Do The Arctic Death Spiral

Speaking of fair and balanced reporting from mainstream media, Joe J’accuse Romm says, ”The cold may make the news, but it ain’t the story.” The story is: the lowest December Arctic sea ice extent in satellite record.

Yes, given half a chance, Rommbo’s on again about the Arctic death spiral. Which, as far as one can tell, to the corporatists in Congress (not yet Congress in toto because of a very few, token populists), this means easier drilling. There is lockstep denial that Arctic sea ice is one of three key indicators in decline.

“Vostok ice core records for carbon dioxide concentration and temperature change.”

While sea level rise probably is the best measure of heat absorbed by the Earth, that is, until there is no ice to melt, it is very much an after the fact indicator. Unfortunately, we have ignored more advanced notice; and, now, the decline of Arctic sea ice no longer is an early warning. It shows a warming world. Mean global temperature is catching up with higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The data comes from Figure 6b in Murphy 2009. The ocean data was taken from Domingues et al. 2008
Build-up in total Earth Heat Content since 1950.

The opposite of Pollutocratic denial is acknowledging the relationship between CO2 levels and global temperature and demonstrating commitment to a reduction in human-caused carbon emissions. If still capable of protecting life on the Planet as we know it, then we must exercise our intelligence and compassion and lessen catastrophic global heating.

NASA explains how Europe can be so cold amidst the hottest November and hottest year on record (climateprogress.org)
The science behind increasing Antarctic sea ice (climateprogress.org)
Polar bear, Arctic sea ice all-but doomed: Misleading Nature cover story misleads the media, public (climateprogress.org)
The war on Santa Claus (and Superman) (climateprogress.org)
NOAA reports 2010 hottest year on record so far, while Arctic sea ice extent hits a stunning December low – Head of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center: Climate change to intensify winter weather (climateprogress.org)

4 Comments

jcwinnie

Posted 2011-1-8 at 9:01 am | Permalink

Omitted mention of albedo… “According to some climate scientists,” says SciAm, “the cold in places like Florida actually could be a sign of warming, rather than an argument against the phenomenon.”

The ongoing disappearance of sea ice in the Arctic from elevated temperatures is a factor to changes in atmospheric pressure that control jet streams of air, explained James Overland, an oceanographer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. That is because ice-less ocean is darker and, thus, absorbs more solar heat, which in turn spews warmer air than average back into the Arctic atmosphere.

That unusually warm air can contribute to a “bulge” effect to the atmospheric pressure controlling how cold air flows, according to Overland, who works at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Rather than moving circularly in the Arctic from west to east as typical, the bulge may prompt air to move in a U-shaped pattern down to the southern United States.
jcwinnie

Posted 2011-1-13 at 1:53 pm | Permalink

Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) says that the rapid warming of the Arctic because of oil pollution means that more Arctic drilling should commence.
jcwinnie

Posted 2011-1-17 at 4:03 pm | Permalink

And, speaking of dwindling albedo, i.e., exposed ground or water is darker and absorbs more heat, satellite data indicates that Arctic sea ice, glaciers, winter snow and Greenland’s ice were bouncing less energy back to space from 1979 to 2008.

The study estimated that ice and snow in the Northern Hemisphere were now reflecting on average 3.3 watts per square meter of solar energy back to the upper atmosphere, a reduction of 0.45 watt per square meter since the late 1970s.

Curious that such a decline in reflection could have such an impact on world climate and yet the deceivers want you to believe that there is no way solar energy could replace burning fossil fuels.
jcwinnie

Posted 2011-1-17 at 4:13 pm | Permalink

Then, again, as Douglas Adams noted in The Salmon of Doubt:

The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.

After Gutenberg