Category Archives: Polar regions

CO2 sensitivity: the polar solution

by Alan Longhurst

Natural climate variability in the polar regions.

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Solar input to high latitudes and the global ice volume

by Donald Rapp, Ralf Ellis and Clive Best

A review of the relationship between the solar input to high latitudes and the global ice volume over the past 2.7 million years.

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What do we know about Arctic sea ice trends?

by Dr. Ronan Connolly & Dr. Michael Connolly

Satellite observations indicate that the average Arctic sea ice extent has generally decreased since the start of the satellite records in October 1978. Is this period long enough to assess whether the current sea level trend is unusual, and to what extent the decline is caused by humans?

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What is the relationship between Arctic sea ice decline and Eurasian cold winters?

by Judith Curry

We conclude that the observed cooling over central Eurasia was probably due to a sea-ice-independent internally generated circulation pattern ensconced over, and nearby, the Barents–Kara Sea since the 1980s. — McCusker et al.

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Is the Arctic sea ice ‘spiral of death’ dead?

by Greg Goodman

This year, as every year, there has been much excitement in the media about ‘catastrophic’ melting of Arctic sea-ice, run-away melting, tipping points, death spirals and “ice-free” summers.

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Another Antarctic Sea Level Rise False Alarm

by Rud Istvan

Aitken et. al. in Nature newly comports to confirm 2015 fears about instability of the Totten Glacier in Eastern Antarctica. This could ‘suddenly’ raise sea level as much as 4 meters! (Or, based on the abstract, maybe only 0.9 meters in ‘modern scale configuration’, but over 2 meters [2.9-4] in unspecified other configurations).

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Arctic winter sea ice puzzle

by Judith Curry

Arctic sea ice extent has been anomalously low this winter.

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Why is the Arctic climate and ice cover so variable?

by Judith Curry

A discussion of Section 8.3 of Alan Longhurst’s book Doubt and Certainty in Climate Science.

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Whats up with the Atlantic?

by Judith Curry

The Washington Post has this dramatic headline:  Global warming is now slowing down the circulation of the ocean with potentially dire consequences.

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New presentations on sea ice

by Judith Curry

I have prepared two new talks on sea ice to present in Nanjing.

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What can we expect for this year’s Arctic sea ice?

by Judith Curry

The seasonal forecasts of Arctic sea ice minimum have been submitted to annual SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook

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Asymmetric responses of Arctic and Antarctic

by Judith Curry

Rapidly melting Arctic sea ice, growing Antarctic sea ice, and concerns about the melting Thwaites glacier – can all of this be explained by anthropogenic global warming?

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Explaining(?) abrupt climate change

by Judith Curry

 . . . suggesting that Dansgaard-Oeschger events resulted from a combination of the effects of sea ice and ice shelves—structures that help define the margins of ice sheets—to account for both the rapid and the slower parts of the cycle.

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Why is there so much Antarctic sea ice?

by Judith Curry

“It is very likely that the annual Antarctic sea ice extent increased at a rate of between 1.2 and 1.8% per decade between 1979 and 2012.” –  IPCC AR5 

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Early 20th century Arctic warming

by Judith Curry

“Arctic temperature anomalies in the 1930s were apparently as large as those in the 1990s and 2000s. There is still considerable discussion of the ultimate causes of the warm temperature anomalies that occurred in the Arctic in the 1920s and 1930s.” – IPCC AR5 Chapter 10

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Antarctic sea ice saga

by Judith Curry

The drama and the irony of  the Antarctic expedition stuck in summertime sea ice.

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The 2.8% effect

by Judith Curry

The Arctic Ocean covers about 2.8% of the total Earth’s surface area   –  The Encyclopedia of Earth

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Uncertainty in Arctic temperatures

by Judith Curry

Motivated by the paper by Cowtan and Way, this post examines uncertainties in the recent variability of Arctic temperatures.

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Unprecedented(?) Arctic warming. Part II

by Marcia Wyatt

UPDATE:  Addendum from Marcia Wyatt

UPDATE:  Giff Miller responds

Miller et al.’s 2013 paper – Unprecedented recent summer warmth in Arctic Canada – splashed into the public eye last week with the declaration that current average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic are warmer now than in any century in the past 44,000 years, and perhaps in the past 120,000 years.

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Unprecedented (?) Arctic warming

by Judith Curry

Arctic temperatures highest in at least 44,000 years.

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Chasing Ice!

by Judith Curry

Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet.

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Inter-decadal Variation in Northern Hemisphere sea ice

by Greg Goodman

On the deceleration in the decline of the Arctic sea ice.

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Arctic sea ice minimum?

by Judith Curry

It looks like the Arctic sea ice is close to reaching its seasonal minimum, reflecting a substantial increase in sea ice relative to the record breaking minimum in 2012.

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Arctic sea ice and extreme weather

by Judith Curry

Is the dramatic decline of Arctic sea ice, spurred by manmade global warming, making the  weather where we live more extreme?  Several recent studies have made this claim.  But a new study finds little evidence to support the idea that the plummeting Arctic sea ice has meaningfully changed our weather patterns. 

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Arctic time bomb (?)

by Judith Curry

It will be difficult — perhaps impossible — to avoid large methane releases in the East Siberian Sea without major reductions in global emissions of CO2.- Gail Whiteman, Chris Hope, Peter Wadhams

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