Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
New research led by scientists at the University of Michigan reveals that the Arctic has lost approximately 25% of its cooling ability since 1980 due to diminishing sea ice and reduced reflectivity. Additionally, this phenomenon has contributed to a global loss of up to 15% in cooling power.
Using satellite measurements of cloud cover and the solar radiation reflected by sea ice between 1980 and 2023, the researchers found that the percent decrease in sea ice’s cooling power is about twice as high as the percent decrease in annual average sea ice area in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The added warming impact from this change to sea ice cooling power is toward the higher end of climate model estimates.
“When we use climate simulations to quantify how melting sea ice affects climate, we typically simulate a full century before we have an answer,” said Mark Flanner, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering and the corresponding author of the study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
“We’re now reaching the point where we have a long enough record of satellite data to estimate the sea ice climate feedback with measurements.”
[...] The Arctic has seen the largest and most steady declines in sea ice cooling power since 1980, but until recently, the South Pole had appeared more resilient to the changing climate. Its sea ice cover had remained relatively stable from 2007 into the 2010s, and the cooling power of the Antarctic’s sea ice was actually trending up at that time.
That view abruptly changed in 2016, when an area larger than Texas melted on one of the continent’s largest ice shelves. The Antarctic lost sea ice then too, and its cooling power hasn’t recovered, according to the new study. As a result, 2016 and the following seven years have had the weakest global sea ice cooling effect since the early 1980s.
Beyond disappearing ice cover, the remaining ice is also growing less reflective as warming temperatures and increased rainfall create thinner, wetter ice and more melt ponds that reflect less solar radiation. This effect has been most pronounced in the Arctic, where sea ice has become less reflective in the sunniest parts of the year, and the new study raises the possibility that it could be an important factor in the Antarctic, too—in addition to lost sea ice cover.
[...] The research team hopes to provide their updated estimates of sea ice’s cooling power and climate feedback from less reflective ice to the climate science community via a website that is updated whenever new satellite data is available.
Reference: “Earth’s Sea Ice Radiative Effect From 1980 to 2023” by A. Duspayev, M. G. Flanner and A. Riihelä, 17 July 2024, Geophysical Research Letters.
DOI: 10.1029/2024GL109608
(Score: 4, Interesting) by canopic jug on Tuesday July 23 2024, @12:18PM
Also as the snow and ice melt, or even sublimate, they leave behind the dirt and dust they contained. That becomes a thicker and darker layer on top of everything as time goes on and if there is no new snow and ice to cover over the dark stuff. The dark stuff absorbs dramatically more energy [npolar.no] than clean snow or ice.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday July 23 2024, @01:35PM
Canada wants 12 new submarines to bolster Arctic defense as NATO watches Russia and China move in [cbsnews.com]
China is installing the wind and solar equivalent of five large nuclear power stations per week [abc.net.au]
compiling...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2024, @07:11PM (1 child)
Oh noes, the cooling power of the arctic has plummeted.
Let's focus very very very closely on the arctic and ignore everything else in this complex biosphere including input from the sun, the brand fucking new discovery of "deep oxygen" in the oceans, and pretend that we have all the answers right now! There's nothing we've missed. We aren't in error anywhere. There's nothing we've failed to account for.
It's your goddamned car you fucking loser. That's what's causing it. Not Al's jet. Not Al's mansions. It's your car.
And the only way to fix it is to add even more taxes to you peasants. You're gonna fix this mess by struggling your entire life while we dangle the carrot of a comfortable living, affordable housing, dangling the American Dream over your head while you desperately wait for retirement to live our your "golden years" with no energy left only to have a heart attack and die at 60.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2024, @07:44AM
https://xkcd.com/1732/ [xkcd.com]
(Score: 2) by corey on Tuesday July 23 2024, @10:32PM (2 children)
Wonder when someone will start up a company to develop a solar shield in space. Funding could come from the UN our collection of world governments. I suspect the science isn’t settled on it yet and it could disrupt things on earth more than anticipated rather than solve a single problem, like cane toads in Queensland (Australia). I wonder if a whole lot of dust spread out in space in an orbit around earth could work. Like moon dust.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2024, @06:02AM
Could also have more houses, buildings etc all use roofs/surfaces with these type of materials/paint on them:
https://www.sri.com/fcd_technology/self-cooling-paint-a-passive-radiative-cooling-solution/ [sri.com]
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2021/Q2/the-whitest-paint-is-here-and-its-the-coolest.-literally..html [purdue.edu]
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-supercool-materials-that-send-heat-to-space1/ [scientificamerican.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 24 2024, @09:50AM
Radiation pressure. Cost of kg in a high orbit. Space is big; you just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is
We aren't yet in a Startrek civilization, ye know?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford