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from the did-they-expect-to-find-handwarmers? dept.
OSLO (Reuters) - Natural swings in the Arctic climate have caused up to half the precipitous losses of sea ice around the North Pole in recent decades, with the rest driven by man-made global warming, scientists said on Monday.
The study indicates that an ice-free Arctic Ocean, often feared to be just years away, in one of the starkest signs of man-made global warming, could be delayed if nature swings back to a cooler mode.
Natural variations in the Arctic climate "may be responsible for about 30–50 percent of the overall decline in September sea ice since 1979," the U.S.-based team of scientists wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Sea ice has shrunk steadily and hit a record low in September 2012 -- late summer in the Arctic -- in satellite records dating back to 1979.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:30PM (2 children)
Growing indeed - for some values of growing*. Mainly by the mean of cracks [bbc.com] and iceberg shedding.
* like "apparent area". All the while the thickness is decreasing and the thinning will accelerate with the gradual loss of the ice shelves (the stuff which keeps the continental ice from flowing into the ocean).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday March 15 2017, @12:57AM (1 child)
People also get confused due to the fact that warming often causes more precipitation and if still below freezing, more snow. Antarctica can warm up a lot and still remain below freezing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by butthurt on Wednesday March 15 2017, @02:55AM
On March 24th, 2015, scientists at Argentina’s Esperanza research base in Antarctica recorded the day’s high at a balmy 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit (17.5 degrees Celsius). Yesterday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recognized that reading as the highest-ever temperature on the Antarctic continent.
-- http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0302/UN-agency-announces-record-highs-on-Antarctica-as-scientists-push-for-more-data [csmonitor.com]