by A.L. Hauptmann et al., July 11, 2017
Globally emitted contaminants accumulate in the Arctic and are stored in the frozen environments of the cryosphere. The microbial potential to degrade anthropogenic contaminants, such as toxic and persistent polychlorinated biphenyls, was found to be spatially variable and not limited to regions close to human activities.
by M. Arthur et al., June 20, 2017, in Nature Communication
We show that variations in ocean temperature in the high latitude North Atlantic and Nordic Seas are reflected in the climate of northwestern Europe and in winter Arctic sea ice extent. Statistical regression models show that a significant part of northern climate variability thus can be skillfully predicted up to a decade in advance based on the state of the ocean. Particularly, we predict that Norwegian air temperature will decrease over the coming years, although staying above the long-term (1981–2010) average. Winter Arctic sea ice extent will remain low but with a general increase towards 2020.
by AFP/UKnews, June 21, 2017
Norway on Wednesday proposed to open up a record number of blocks in the Barents Sea to oil exploration despite protests from environmentalists and others fearing possible damage to the Arctic region.
The Norwegian oil and energy ministry offered oil companies 93 blocks in the Barents Sea and nine others in the Norwegian Sea, all located beyond the Arctic Circle.
by University of Manitoba, June 13, 2017 in ScienceDaily
This regrettably postpones the much-anticipated Hudson Bay System Study (BaySys) involving 40 scientists from five universities across Canada. Timing was key for this $17 million, four-year, University of Manitoba-led project.
See also here
by Michael Stars et al., June 5, 2017 in Nature Communication
High latitude ocean gateway changes are thought to play a key role in Cenozoic climate evolution. However, the underlying ocean dynamics are poorly understood. Here we use a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model to investigate the effect of ocean gateway formation that is associated with the subsidence of the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. We find a threshold in sill depth (∼50 m) that is linked to the influence of wind mixing.
by Paul Homewood, June 5, 2017
Arctic sea ice extent continues to run well above the level of the last two years.
Much more significantly though, the average extent for the whole of May was the highest since 2013, and was also higher than 2004 and 2006.
by Hiroki Tokinaga et al., PNAS, May 1, 2017
Arctic amplification is a robust feature of climate response to global warming, with large impacts on ecosystems and societies. A long-standing mystery is that a pronounced Arctic warming occurred during the early 20th century when the rate of interdecadal change in radiative forcing was much weaker than at present. Here, using observations and model experiments, we show that the combined effect of internally generated Pacific and Atlantic interdecadal variabilities intensified the Arctic land warming in the early 20th century.
by Randall Hayman, May 8, 2017, in Science
Good news about climate change is especially rare in the Arctic. But now comes news that increases in one greenhouse gas—methane—lead to the dramatic decline of another. Research off the coast of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago suggests that where methane gas bubbles up from seafloor seeps, surface waters directly above absorb twice as much carbon dioxide (CO2) as surrounding waters. The findings suggest that methane seeps in isolated spots in the Arctic could lessen the impact of climate change.
by Dr. John D. Harper, FGSA,FGAC, PGeol., former director of the Geological Survey of Canada © May 2017
I have recently been asked to comment on three articles published in The Economist. My background for such a response is as a Professor of Petroleum Geology and Sedimentology (ret.), a former Director-Energy for the Geological Survey of Canada, a former researcher in industry, and as an academic researcher on sea level changes and climate documentation through geologic time, Natural Resources of the Future and a couple of decades of studies in the Arctic.
1) Skating on thin ice: The thawing Arctic threatens an environmental catastrophe. Apr 27, 2017
2) The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone. April 29, 2017
3) Thaw point: As the Arctic melts the world’s weather suffers. April 29, 2017
by JoNova, April 2017
The Arctic is the most sensitive place to man-made emissions on Earth, which is why it has barely warmed since 1944? Well, it makes sense if CO2 is largely irrelevant. Humans have made 90% of all their CO2 in the last 70 years and nothing much happened in the place where it was supposed to hurt the most.
by Geological Society of America, April 13, 2017
in ScienceDaily
Cretaceous climate warming led to a significant methane release from the seafloor, indicating potential for similar destabilization of gas hydrates under modern global warming. A field campaign on the remote Ellef Ringnes Island, Canadian High Arctic, discovered an astounding number of methane seep mounds in Cretaceous age sediments.
by Q. Ding et al., March 13, 2017, Nature Climate Change
The Arctic has seen rapid sea-ice decline in the past three decades, whilst warming at about twice the global average rate. Yet the relationship between Arctic warming and sea-ice loss is not well understood. Here, we present evidence that trends in summertime atmospheric circulation may have contributed as much as 60% to the September sea-ice extent decline since 1979.
Egalement : Recul de la banquise arctique: 30% à 50% lié à la variabilité naturelle de l’atmosphère
by Paul Homewood, April 6, 2017
DMI have now published the Arctic sea ice extents for March. The average this year was 14.71 million sq km, exactly the same as 2015, and only 60,000sq km less than in 2006.
by Dr. Sebastian Lüning and Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt [German text translated/edited by P Gosselin] , April 1, 2017
Now let’s extend the time scale and look back 100 years. What a surprise: In the 1930s and 1940s there were two heat decades in the Arctic which were almost as warm as today (Fig. 2). This is just a small fact that went missing in the WMO press release and in the derwesten.de article.
by David Middleton, March 22, 2017
Really?
Firstly, how can reopening the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea OCS areas to leasing be disrespectful to “market forces”? Opening up an area to leasing doesn’t somehow impose an obligation on oil companies to bid on leases in those areas.
Prof. Dr. Istvan Marko
Depuis des années, ils guettent, telle une nuée de médecins de Molière au chevet d’un agonisant, les moindres déviations de la quantité de glace en Arctique, son épaisseur et son âge. Nombreux sont ceux qui ont prétendu qu’elle allait disparaître en 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 et même 2016. Hélas pour eux, la glace est toujours là et bien là. Damien Ernst a parlé de “tipping point”, un point de basculement, au-delà duquel les choses se dégraderaient inéluctablement. Et d’ajouter que l’on entre dans un domaine inconnu où tout – surtout le pire, évidemment – peut arriver. Alarmisme, quand tu nous tiens !
Mais qu’en est-il vraiment du triste sort de la banquise arctique ? Fond-elle de manière anormale ? Va-t-elle disparaître dans un proche avenir ? Et qu’adviendra-t-il des ours polaires ?
Signalons d’emblée que les mesures effectuées au cours de l’année 2016 montrent effectivement que, depuis la mi-octobre, l’étendue de la banquise arctique est inférieure à celle observée les années précédentes. Il semblerait donc que la glace se reconstitue moins vite. Cependant, si l’on examine attentivement les données, on observe que le regel, lent en octobre, s’accélère et que la quantité de glace devrait revenir à la normale avant la fin de l’hiver.
nb: janvier 2017. Finalement la banquise arctique a rejoint la courbe ‘moyenne’ de surface des glaces au cours du mois de décembre 2016.