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An Upside to Global Warming?

Posted on July 26, 2010 Categories: Journals 4

Well, maybe not, but it was remarkable nevertheless to see many of the Polaris Project students swimming in the Arctic Ocean a few days ago.

For most of the year this part of the ocean is covered in sea ice. The image below, courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, shows the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice extent as of July 15, 2010.  Note the small region of open water near the mouth of the Kolyma River – that is where the Polaris students were swimming.

But as has been happening Arctic-wide for the past few decades, sea ice has been retreating from this part of the Siberian coast.  The figure below shows the minimum annual sea ice extent each year since 1979 (determined using satellite imagery), which typically occurs in the middle of September.

2010 is on track to be another year with anomalously low sea ice extent, with the current sea ice extent almost as low as it was on this date during the record breaking 2007 season.  Will 2010 set a new record?

What does this all mean?  In addition to the impacts of sea ice loss for arctic organisms (including humans), how might sea ice loss impact people living outside of the Arctic?

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Comments(4)

  1. drc says
    July 26, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Extent is much less meaningful than volume. Nice post on real climate right now about this.

    http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/an-icy-retreat/

  2. Max Holmes says
    July 26, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    Hi DRC –

    Thanks for the comment. I agree that total ice volume, or ice thickness, is critically important for predicting what ice will likely melt over the coming weeks. Unfortunately, ice thickness has been much more difficult to monitor than the areal extent of the ice. On the other hand, it is the areal extent of the ice that is important for determining albedo (reflectivity). Even very thin ice reflects far more sunlight than open water.

    Also, thanks for pointing people to realclimate.org. It is one of the best sources for thoughtful, up-to-date discussions of climate change.

    Max Holmes

  3. andy says
    July 26, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    Them’s some white kids in the water! Get some sun!

  4. Thoren says
    July 27, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    What a pasty lot you are. Truly fit for the Siberian north.

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