NOAA Arctic Report Card finds Arctic entering into new phase: warmer, greener, and less ice
04 December 2011
An international team of scientists who monitor the rapid changes in the Earth’s northern polar region say that the Arctic is entering a new state, one with warmer air and water temperatures, less summer sea ice and snow cover, and a changed ocean chemistry. This shift is also causing changes in the region’s life, both on land and in the sea, including less habitat for polar bears and walruses, but increased access to feeding areas for whales.
Changes to the Arctic are chronicled annually in the Arctic Report Card; the report is prepared by an international team of scientists from 14 different countries.
This report, by a team of 121 scientists from around the globe, concludes that the Arctic region continues to warm, with less sea ice and greater green vegetation. With a greener and warmer Arctic, more development is likely. Reports like this one help us to prepare for increasing demands on Arctic resources so that better decisions can be made about how to manage and protect these more valuable and increasingly available resources.
—Monica Medina, NOAA principal deputy under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere
Among the 2011 highlights are:
Atmosphere: In 2011, the average annual near-surface air temperatures over much of the Arctic Ocean were approximately 2.5° F (1.5° C) greater than the 1981-2010 baseline period.
Sea ice: Minimum Arctic sea ice area in September 2011 was the second lowest recorded by satellite since 1979.
Ocean: Arctic Ocean temperature and salinity may be stabilizing after a period of warming and freshening. Acidification of sea water (“ocean acidification”) as a result of carbon dioxide absorption has also been documented in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Land: Arctic tundra vegetation continues to increase and is associated with higher air temperatures over most of the Arctic land mass.
In 2006, NOAA’s Climate Program Office introduced the State of the Arctic Report which established a baseline of conditions at the beginning of the 21st century. It is updated annually as the Arctic Report Card to monitor the often-quickly changing conditions in the Arctic. Peer-review of the scientific content of the report card was facilitated by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment (AMAP) Program.
The Report Card tracks the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, biology, ocean, land, and Greenland. This year, new sections were added, including, greenhouse gases, ozone and ultraviolet radiation, ocean acidification, Arctic Ocean primary productivity, and lake ice.
Credibility = 0
"No amount of context can possibly exonerate the CRU gang from some of the damning expressions and contrivances that appear repeatedly in the new emails. More so than the 2009 batch, these emails make clear the close collaboration between the leading IPCC scientists and environmental advocacy groups, government agencies, and partisan journalists." Steven Hayward, The Weekly Standard
http://www.thegwpf.org/opinion-pros-a-cons/4482-climategate-20-a-sequel-as-ugly-as-the-ooriginal.html
Posted by: Reel$$ | 04 December 2011 at 11:46 AM
The end result is fortunately or not:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/11/durban-climate-conference-analysis-of-the-coming-failure/
"You might reasonably expect our leaders to be asking themselves questions such as, “how quickly can we move to a carbon-free energy system? What measures should we put in place by the end of the year to start moving in this direction? What international coordination needs to happen to make sure that we transfer all of our best and most effective non-carbon, low-impact technologies to developing countries to help them make the energy transition?”
To no surprise, the answer to these questions is coming from a small, dedicated group of activists who actually CARE about the welfare of the human race. They succeed because they do not dally in the corroded halls of climate - but rather, the wide horizon of brand new ENERGY. It is called LENR and has already changed the world.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 04 December 2011 at 06:10 PM
Here's another quote mined from;
http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/11/durban-climate-conference-analysis-of-the-coming-failure/
Needless to say, such a sane and rational response is not at all part of the thinking that goes on in between the ears of heads of state.
Posted by: ai_vin | 04 December 2011 at 09:22 PM
"Needless to say, such a sane and rational response is not at all part of the thinking that goes on in between the ears of heads of state."
Well, that's because they have their lobbyist money and large donor's money to consider and the votes of disbelieving constituents brought to you by bought and paid for media.
And please no more quotes about "CRU and GS or Roy Spencer Phd. or hacked e-mails. I can look deeper than that on my own. If the Arctic is NOT losing ice, then how can Russia be using the Northeast Passage or how can we be zooming in on new opened drilling sites where there was once ice. I know, it's all a lie. They even have the satellite images of the Arctic Photoshopped.
Posted by: jeffa | 04 December 2011 at 11:58 PM
Yes jeffa....many are being hypnotized by aggressive lobbyists, financed by you know who, to believe that the missing ice is still there. I saw a short clip the other day showing that ICE was over 100 ft. thick at the North Pole. The negative side is that it seems to work with 50+%. They will line up for the parade soon, has they did 500 years ago. It may be de-civilization at work.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 December 2011 at 07:39 AM
"These new maps are ridiculously off base, way exaggerated relative to the reality of rapid change in Greenland," said Jeffrey S. Kargel, senior research scientist at the University of Arizona.
The Times (of London) Atlas suggested the Greenland ice sheet has lost 300,000 square kilometers in the past 12 years, at a rate of 1.5 percent per year. Last year, a U.N. committee of climate scientists came under fire for bungling a forecast of when Himalayan glaciers would thaw.
The panel's 2007 report, the main guide for governments in fighting climate change, included an incorrect projection that all Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035, hundreds of years earlier than scientists' projections.
Curiously the Greenland prediction/map claimed by Harper Collins to be based on NSIDC data... came from a unit of FOX NEWS Corp - right wing conservative mecca.
Wonder why skeptics say, "Hmmm."
Posted by: Reel$$ | 05 December 2011 at 10:22 AM
Crickets...
Posted by: Reel$$ | 06 December 2011 at 01:40 PM