NOAA’s 2021 Arctic Report Card: Rapid and pronounced warming continues to drive the evolution of the Arctic environment

(a) Linear sea surface temperature (SST) trend (°C yr-1) for August of each year from 1982 to 2021. The trend is only shown for values that are statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence interval; the region is shaded gray otherwise. White shading is the August 2021 mean sea ice extent, and the yellow line indicates the median ice edge for Aug 1982-2010, (b, c) Area-averaged SST anomalies (°C) for August of each year (1982-2021) relative to the 1982-2010 August mean for (b) Baffin Bay and (c) Chukchi Sea regions shown by blue boxes in (a). The dotted lines show the linear SST anomaly trends over the period shown and trends in °C yr-1 (with 95 percent confidence intervals) are shown on the plots. Mean August SST warming trends from 1982 to 2021 persist over much of the Arctic Ocean, with statistically significant (at the 95 percent confidence interval) linear warming trends of up to +0.1°C yr-1 (a). Overall, Baffin Bay SSTs are becoming warmer in August with a linear warming trend over 1982-2021 of 0.05 ± 0.01°C yr-1 (b). Similarly, Chukchi Sea August mean SSTs are warming, with a linear trend of 0.06 ± 0.03°C yr-1 (c). Mean August SSTs for the entire Arctic (the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas north of 67° N) exhibit a linear warming trend of 0.03 ± 0.01°C yr-1. Graphic: Timmermans and Labe / NOAA

December 24, 2021

NOAA’s 2021 Arctic Report Card: Rapid and pronounced warming continues to drive the evolution of the Arctic environment

By T. A. Moon, M. L. Druckenmiller, and R. L. Thoman 6 December 2021 (NOAA) – As the influences of human-caused global warming continue to intensify, with the Arctic warming significantly faster than the globe overall, the 2021 Arctic Report Card (ARC2021) brings a broad view of the state of the Arctic climate and environment. […]

$Satellite view of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier on 28 December 2015 (left) and 31 March 2021 (right). On 13 December 2021, Ice scientists at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in New Orleans warned that great cracks and fissures had opened up both on top of and underneath the Thwaites glacier, one of the biggest in the world, and it may fracture and collapse, possibly within five years. Photo: ESA Sentinel-1$

December 22, 2021

Antarctica’s “doomsday” glacier: how its collapse could trigger global floods and swallow islands – “If Thwaites were to collapse, it would drag most of West Antarctica’s ice with it”

By Ella Gilbert 22 December 2021 (The Conversation) – The massive Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 65 centimeters if it were to completely collapse. And, worryingly, recent research suggests that its long-term stability is doubtful as the glacier haemorrhages more and more ice. Adding 65 centimeters to global sea levels […]

Map showing the near-surface air temperature differences from the 1981-2010 average for January to September 2021. Data are from the ERA5 reanalysis product. Graphic: C3S / ECMWF

December 12, 2021

State of the Climate in 2021: Past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record – “Extreme events are the new norm”

GENEVA, 31 October 2021 (WMO) – Record atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and associated accumulated heat have propelled the planet into uncharted territory, with far-reaching repercussions for current and future generations, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record, according to the provisional WMO […]

Deep water underneath the Thwaites ice shelf front is lighter than water outside the ice shelf. (A) Map of trough T3 showing the AUV path color coded by latitude. Shaded region indicates the ice shelf front, and black contours are depth contours. (B) Conservative temperature θ (in degrees Celsius) versus absolute salinity SA (in grams per kilogram) for the AUV data points shown in (A), colors as in (A). Contours show potential density (9) relative to 900 m, and blue arrow indicates isopycnal mixing, i.e., water that has the same density but different temperatures and salinities. Green circles in (A) and (B) show the dense saline deep water found in trough T3 discussed in the main text. (C) Absolute salinity SA (in grams per kilogram) as a function of depth for the AUV data in trough T3 and the CTD data (colors indicate station as in Fig. 3). (D) Potential density (in kilograms per cubic meter) as a function of depth for the AUV data in trough T3 and the CTD data (colors indicate station as in Figs. 3 and 4). Red and blue arrows indicate the two deep water masses discussed in the main text from Pine Island Bay and Thwaites Trough. Dissolved oxygen versus θ and SA is shown in fig. S6. Graphic: Wåhlin, et al., 2021 / Science Advances

April 11, 2021

Exploration of ocean currents beneath the “Doomsday Glacier” by an autonomous underwater vehicle – Net melting of 75 cubic km of ice per year means “the glacier is not stable over time”

9 April 2021 (University of Gothenburg) – For the first time, researchers have been able to obtain data from underneath Thwaites Glacier, also known as the “Doomsday Glacier”. They find that the supply of warm water to the glacier is larger than previously thought, triggering concerns of faster melting and accelerating ice flow. With the […]

This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows a massive flood of water, mud, and debris flowing in the Chamoli District after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Sunday, 7 February 2021. Photo: KK Productions / AP

February 8, 2021

Rescuers search for 171 missing people after Indian glacier causes devastating flood – “Most scholars of Himalayan rivers have been warning about these risks for decades”

By Hannah Ellis-Petersen 8 February 2021 DELHI, India (The Guardian) – Twenty six bodies have been recovered in the Indian Himalayas and scores more people are still missing after a second day of rescue efforts after a glacier break that caused an avalanche of water and debris to engulf a river valley and demolish two […]

Glaciers in New Zealand have turned a caramel colour from bushfire ash blown across from Australia, 1 January 2020. Photo: Fabulousmonster @Rachelhatesit / Twitter

January 7, 2020

New Zealand glaciers turn brown from Australian bushfires’ smoke, ash and dust – May increase glacier melt in 2020 by 30 percent

By Eleanor Ainge Roy 1 January 2020 WANAKA (The Guardian) – Snow and glaciers in New Zealand have turned brown after being exposed to dust from the Australian bushfires, with one expert saying the incident could increase glacier melt this season by as much as 30 percent. On Wednesday many parts of the South Island woke […]

Global surface temperature anomalies, 1880-2019, compared with the 1880-1899 average. The year 2019 was the second warmest year on record, capping the warmest decade since measurements began. Data: Gavin Schmidt / NASA GISTEMP. Graphic: InsideClimate

January 7, 2020

2010-2019: Earth’s hottest decade on record marked by extreme storms, deadly wildfires – “The climate of the 20th Century is gone. We’re in a new neighborhood.”

By Bob Berwyn 19 December 2019 (InsideClimate News) – Deadly heat waves, wildfires and widespread flooding punctuated a decade of climate extremes that, by many scientific accounts, show global warming kicking into overdrive. As the year drew to a close, scientists were confidently saying 2019 was Earth’s second-warmest recorded year on record, capping the warmest […]

Water towers of the World: the most important mountainous and glacial regions in the Americas, which serve as the “water towers” for billions living downstream. Data: Walter Immerzeel, Utrecht University. Graphic: Brian T. Jacobs / National Geographic

December 28, 2019

World’s supply of fresh water in trouble as mountain ice vanishes – 1.9 billion people at risk from mountain water shortages – “The most important water towers are also among the most vulnerable”

By Alejandra Borunda 9 December 2019 (National Geographic) – High in the Himalaya, near the base of the Gangotri glacier, water burbles along a narrow river. Pebbles, carried in the small river’s flow, pling as they carom downstream. This water will flow thousands of miles, eventually feeding people, farms, and the natural world on the vast, […]

Alaska’s Columbia glacier began rapidly retreating around 1980, and its leading edge has moved more than 20 kilometers inland. These images, captured by the joint NASA / U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellites, were stitched together into a video to show the glacier’s dynamic evolution from 1972 to 2019. Video: Mark Fahnestock / University of Alaska Fairbanks

December 14, 2019

Video: 47 years of satellite images show retreat of Alaskan’s Columbia glacier

By Carolyn Gramling 10 December 2019 SAN FRANCISCO (Science News) – A mesmerizing new series of images shows the retreat of Alaska’s Columbia glacier over the last 47 years in gorgeous, excruciating detail. The images were presented December 10 at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting. Landsat satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological […]

Greenland ice thickness loss, 1993-2019. Graphic: IMBIE / CPOM / Leeds University

December 14, 2019

Greenland losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s – Sea level rise from Greenland melt tracking highest climate projections

10 December 2019 (Utrecht University) – Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the IPCC’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100. The findings, published in Nature today, show that Greenland has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice […]

Desdemona Despair

Tag: glacier