Why NASA’s latest photo of Alaska is freaking people out

By JAKE ELLISON21 June 2013 (Seattle PI) – At first glance, it’s just a great photo of nearly the entire state of Alaska on an exceptionally clear day. What could be the problem? Well, turns out that photo shows an anomaly that some are fretting signifies yet another big shift in global climate – a […]

The Arctic sea ice ‘death spiral’ – ‘The ice is dwindling away. That is a fact.’

By Phil Plait 28 May 2013 (Slate) – It’s no surprise to regular readers I am quite concerned about climate change. My concern on this issue is two-fold: one consists of the actual global consequences of the reality of global warming, and the other is the blatant manipulation of that reality by those who would […]

Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice – ‘No chance of surviving through this summer’

23 May 2013 (BBC) – A Russian drifting Arctic research station is to be evacuated because the ice field around it is melting, the environment ministry in Moscow reports. The ministry has ordered an evacuation plan to be drawn up within three days for North Pole 40 and its staff of 16. It is sending […]

Graph of the Day: Observed and modeled September Arctic sea ice extent, 1900-2100

ABSTRACT: The observed rapid loss of thick, multi-year sea ice over the last seven years and September 2012 Arctic sea ice extent reduction of 49% relative to the 1979-2000 climatology are inconsistent with projections of a nearly sea ice free summer Arctic from model estimates of 2070 and beyond made just a few years ago. […]

America’s first climate refugees: Alaska native villages threatened with coastal erosion – ‘It’s real, global warming, it’s real’

By Suzanne Goldenberg in Newtok, Alaska13 May 2013 (Guardian) – Sabrina Warner keeps having the same nightmare: a huge wave rearing up out of the water and crashing over her home, forcing her to swim for her life with her toddler son. “I dream about the water coming in,” she said. The landscape in winter […]

When science goes silent: With the muzzling of scientists in Canada, Harper’s obsession with controlling the message verges on the Orwellian

By Jonathon Gatehouse3 May 2013 (Maclean’s) – As far as the government scientist was concerned, it was a bit of fluff: an early morning interview about great white sharks last summer with Canada AM, the kind of innocuous and totally apolitical media commentary the man used to deliver 30 times or more each year as […]

Arctic Ocean ‘acidifying rapidly’ – ‘Even if we stop emissions now, acidification will last tens of thousands of years. It is a very big experiment.’

By Roger Harrabin, Environment analyst6 May 2013 (BBC) – The Arctic seas are being made rapidly more acidic by carbon-dioxide emissions, according to a new report. Scientists from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) monitored widespread changes in ocean chemistry in the region. They say even if CO2 emissions stopped now, it would take […]

World Meteorological Organization confirms 2012 was ninth warmest year on record – ‘The sustained warming of the lower atmosphere is a worrisome sign’

GENEVA, 2 May 2013 (WMO) The World Meteorological Organization’s Statement on the Status of the Global Climate says that 2012 joined the ten previous years as one of the warmest — at ninth place — on record despite the cooling influence of a La Niña episode early in the year. The 2012 global land and […]

Accord would regulate fishing in Arctic waters as sea ice melts away

By ANDREW E. KRAMER 16 April 2013 MOSCOW (The New York Times) – It was once protected by ice. Now regulation will have to do the work. The governments of the five countries with coastline on the Arctic have concluded that enough of the polar ice cap now melts regularly in the summertime that an […]

Arctic nearly free of summer sea ice during first half of 21st century: NOAA study

12 April 2013 (NOAA) – For scientists studying summer sea ice in the Arctic, it’s not a question of “if” there will be nearly ice-free summers, but “when.” And two scientists say that “when” is sooner than many thought — before 2050 and possibly within the next decade or two. James Overland of NOAA’s Pacific […]

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