About Social Media Today
Last week, I reported that leading scientific experts were warning we could see a “near ice-free Arctic in summer” in a decade — if volume trends continue.
Here’s a short video showing those ominous trends from 1979 through early September 2012:
Since 1979, the volume of summer Arctic sea ice has declined by 75% and accelerating.… This video by Andy Lee Robinson illustrates the dramatic decline from 1979 until September 2, 2012 (day 246). Sea ice volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System [PIOMAS].
And that is why what’s happening in the Arctic deserves the label “death spiral.” The main conclusion of the PIOMAS modeling — thinner and thinner ice — has been verified by The European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 probe.
The serious consequences of the death spiral are discussed in these two post:
- How The Arctic Death Spiral Favors Extreme, Prolonged Weather Events “Such As Drought, Flooding, Cold Spells And Heat Waves”
- Why The Arctic Sea Ice Death Spiral Matters
And you can hear some leading experts on the Arctic talk about sea ice trends in this Radio EcoShock show:
Rutgers scientist Jennifer Francis explains how this changes weather for billions of people in the Northern Hemisphere. Plus the Director of the Snow and Ice Data Center, Mark Serreze, on [the recent sea ice] record and what it means, and analysis from polar scientist Jennifer Bitz, U of Washington.
