Posted on 10/05/2006 1:48:05 PM PDT by cogitator
Several days ago, the 'Maria S Merian' returned from her second Arctic expedition with data confirming trends of Arctic warming. "Compared to last summer, the water that flows from the Norwegian Sea to the Arctic has been an average 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer this summer," says expedition leader Dr Ursula Schauer of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
"This is in addition to the last two years already having been warmer than the previous 20 from which we have regular measurements. Over the Yermak Plateau, an oceanic ridge, the oceanographers documented water of more than four degrees Celsius moving up to 81 20' northern latitude," according to Schauer. During the expedition, biologists discovered zooplankton species from the Norwegian Sea which were previously unrecorded from the northern latitudes that they had reached via the warm waters.
For one month, scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, the University of Bremen and the Polish Institute of Oceanology were tracking warm waters along the sea ice margin between Greenland and Spitsbergen. As the sea ice margin was far north this year, the 'Maria S Merian' reached its northernmost position yet at 81 20'N.
In Fram Strait, the scientists continued oceanographic and biological long-term studies that were initiated ten years ago.
The climate change observed throughout the past ten years is particularly marked in the Arctic. Oceanographers are working towards a better understanding of the oceans' role in this process. How much heat is transmitted to the Arctic by the northernmost subsidiary of the warm North Atlantic Current, and how much variation is found in this heat pump, are some of the open questions. For this purpose, the transport of warm, high salinity water from the Atlantic to the Arctic has been recorded in the strait between Greenland and Spitsbergen, using an elaborate fixture system.
Previous measurements have indicated the occurrence of several strong warm pulses during the past decade. Within the context of an international programme, a combination of this and similar data has, for the first time, enabled reconstruction of an Atlantic heat pulse through the Norwegian Sea and far into the inner Arctic over several years.
In order to continue the time series, the scientists have collected the instruments deployed in Fram Strait and replaced them with new ones. The automated long-term recordings are verified and complemented with high resolution measurements of current water temperature.
I posted this in the Science section (General/Chat) because it doesn't have anything political to say!
0.8 of a degree!?!? DOOMED, I say!!!
That's pretty significant.
...and next year there will be 30 feet of ice.
Good news! The Northwest Passage will be navigable soon!
As I said, we're doomed. You thought I was joking?
Methinks that around 2030 or so, people in Tallahasse will scrape snow off their windshields and look back fondly to the good ol' days when folks were so concerned about global warming.
Y'know, that's funny. Because if global warming actually caused a significant reduction of deepwater formation in the North Atlantic (unlikely but possible), it could cause a temporary cooling event, felt most strongly in Europe but maybe affecting eastern North America, too. And what you describe could happen -- and it would be due to global warming.
Or it could just happen from decreased solar output like what happened during the Little Ice Age.
Yes, it could. Gentlemen, place your bets...
The sun holds the cards on this one. Sol's a bit bigger and more energetic than I am.
Right. Apparently the Arctic Sea ice was pretty thin back when the Vikings settled Greenland and explored the North American coastline. Also, England got so warm they created a huge grape/wine industry there which competed with the French.
This site monitors Arctic Sea ice via satellite on a daily basis. It provides images, graphs and records:
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.