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Recent cold snap helping Arctic sea ice, scientists find
CBC News ^ | February 15, 2008 | NA

Posted on 02/16/2008 10:26:17 PM PST by neverdem

There's an upside to the extreme cold temperatures northern Canadians have endured in the last few weeks: scientists say it's been helping winter sea ice grow across the Arctic, where the ice shrank to record-low levels last year.

Temperatures have stayed well in the -30s C and -40s C range since late January throughout the North, with the mercury dipping past -50 C in some areas.

Satellite images are showing that the cold spell is helping the sea ice expand in coverage by about 2 million square kilometres, compared to the average winter coverage in the previous three years.

"It's nice to know that the ice is recovering," Josefino Comiso, a senior research scientist with the Cryospheric Sciences Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, told CBC News on Thursday.

"That means that maybe the perennial ice would not go down as low as last year."

Canadian scientists are also noticing growing ice coverage in most areas of the Arctic, including the southern Davis Strait and the Beaufort Sea.

"Clearly, we're seeing the ice coverage rebound back to more near normal coverage for this time of year," said Gilles Langis, a senior ice forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa.

Winter sea ice could keep expanding The cold is also making the ice thicker in some areas, compared to recorded thicknesses last year, Lagnis added.

"The ice is about 10 to 20 centimetres thicker than last year, so that's a significant increase," he said.

If temperatures remain cold this winter, Langis said winter sea ice coverage will continue to expand.

But he added that it's too soon to say what impact this winter will have on the Arctic summer sea ice, which reached its lowest coverage ever recorded in the summer of 2007.

That was because the thick multi-year ice pack that survives a summer melt has been decreasing in recent years, as well as moving further south. Langis said the ice pack is currently located about 130 kilometres from the Mackenzie Delta, about half the distance from where it was last year.

The polar regions are a concern to climate specialists studying global warming, since those regions are expected to feel the impact of climate change sooner and to a greater extent than other areas.

Sea ice in the Arctic helps keep those regions cool by reflecting sunlight that might otherwise be absorbed by darker ocean or land surfaces.


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; Russia; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: agw; arctic; arcticseaice; climatechange; globalwarming; winter
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To: neverdem

How could this be. A seminary drop-out person said here was global warming.


41 posted on 02/17/2008 5:31:06 AM PST by chainsaw (Monica Lewinsky's ex-sex partner's wife for Pesident ?....No Muslim in the WH either.)
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To: neverdem
WarmMonger
42 posted on 02/17/2008 5:38:54 AM PST by missnry (The truth will set you free ... and drive liberals Crazy!)
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To: dr_lew

What are you people, idiots? This WINTER has been much colder than the last several WINTERs and the sea ice has expanded this WINTER compared to previous WINTERS. Can’t you even follow that?

Sure, that is why we have global warming...isn’t it?


43 posted on 02/17/2008 5:40:25 AM PST by chainsaw (Monica Lewinsky's ex-sex partner's wife for Pesident ?....No Muslim in the WH either.)
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To: neverdem
Minus 30C to Minus 40C across the entire polar ice forming region of the Arctic over the past 30 days. This is the normal pattern of temps in the Arctic at this time of the year.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that it is now winter in the Arctic and they are 5 months into the 6 months of darkness that happens every winter (which the global alarmers do not seem to ever take into account or do not understand apparently.)

The Ice will RETURN every winter when the sun goes down below the horizon on September 22 and the ice will start melting when the sun rises above the horizon on March 22 ever year.


44 posted on 02/17/2008 5:44:06 AM PST by JustDoItAlways
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To: LibFreeOrDie
"What is "normal"?"

I would argue that normal is when my ancestors grew wine grapes back on the "family farm" in Iceland.

45 posted on 02/17/2008 5:50:03 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Planting trees to offset carbon emissions is like drinking water to offset rising ocean levels)
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To: Grizzled Bear
"Clearly, we're seeing the ice coverage rebound back to more near normal coverage for this time of year," said Gilles Langis, a senior ice forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa.

If this guy is actually supposed to be a forecaster then I think the Canadian taxpayers are getting screwed. He should have seen this coming!

46 posted on 02/17/2008 6:12:53 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: neverdem
If temperatures remain cold this winter, Langis said winter sea ice coverage will continue to expand.

Whatever would we do without experts?

Cheers!

47 posted on 02/17/2008 6:15:30 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: RockinRight

Yeah, it’s winter and the climate is a DYNAMIC system.


48 posted on 02/17/2008 6:16:38 AM PST by Former Proud Canadian (How do I change my screen name after Harper's election?)
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To: neverdem
The polar regions are a concern to climate specialists studying global warming, since those regions are expected to feel the impact of climate change sooner and to a greater extent than other areas.

You bet they're concerned since the "models" that they use are predicting further melting of the arctic ice and they have reputations and careers on the line. They need Global Warming. They have grown drunk from the Gore Kool-Aid and are counting on it. If the arctic ice pack continues to grow they might just be out of a job.

49 posted on 02/17/2008 6:24:04 AM PST by InterceptPoint
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To: jjw
If he is refering to the entire arctic, 4-8 inches over zillions of square miles sounds like an incredible amount of new ice.

Well, since the Arctic has less than 3% of the world's ice, the entire article is pretty irrelevant anyway.

The only relevance to Arctic ice is if it melts enough to allow year-round shipping.

Them's the facts.

50 posted on 02/17/2008 6:27:18 AM PST by American in Singapore (Bill Clinton: The Human Stain)
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To: neverdem

Another stunning DUH moment by the MSM.


51 posted on 02/17/2008 6:28:05 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (John McCain - The Manchurian Candidate? http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm)
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To: BroJoeK
will they now become fat and lazy, and stop breeding, because, hey, life is good again, right?

I believe they will, it's already a given fact that obesity kills......

52 posted on 02/17/2008 6:34:49 AM PST by Hot Tabasco ( Don’t go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought a whole bunch of fresh ammo.)
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To: neverdem

A couple of weeks ago, we were on a cruise to the Mexican Riveria, and it was cool in the mornings and evenings down there.

I talked to a the seasoned tour boat captains about the cool weather. All 3 captains noted that all of the 3 cities, Puerto Vallerto, Mazatlan, and Cabo had been in the coldest winter in 50 years.

One of the cruise ship’s senior line officers said that the oceans were cooler the past 3-5 years than the previous 50 years. He sneered about the bs of Gorebull Warming.


53 posted on 02/17/2008 7:09:27 AM PST by Grampa Dave ("Ron Paul and his flaming antiwar spam monkeys can Kiss my Ass!!"- Jim Robinson, Sept, 30, 2007)
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To: dr_lew

I know that...I was poking fun at the alarmist tone of these types of articles.


54 posted on 02/17/2008 7:28:34 AM PST by RockinRight (Supreme Court Justice Fred Thompson. The next best place for Fred.)
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To: jjw; neverdem; girlangler; fanfan; GMMAC
If he is refering to the entire arctic, 4-8 inches over zillions of square miles sounds like an incredible amount of new ice.

I'm currently out in the Arctic Ocean. When I arrived it was -45, but it recently warmed up to about -20. There is a huge ridge of ice about 30' tall that was pushed up by a windstorm a few weeks ago.

One morning I went with a crew checking ice thickness, which measured 52".
55 posted on 02/17/2008 7:42:59 AM PST by proud_yank (Socialism - An Answer In Search Of A Question For Over 100 Years)
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To: proud_yank; Diana in Wisconsin

Hi Yank, so great to see you here. I owe you an email.

So you made it. Seeing any wildlife out there?

Pinging Diana, see it’s actually warm where you are (grin)


56 posted on 02/17/2008 7:58:49 AM PST by girlangler (Fish Fear Me)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

And sociologists in Rome have made startling discoveries in the hat-wearing habits of a certain High Priest of the Catholic Church...


57 posted on 02/17/2008 8:19:51 AM PST by JRios1968 ("If you go over a cliff with all flags flying, you are still going over a cliff" —Ronald Reagan)
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To: neverdem

Fig leaf.


58 posted on 02/17/2008 8:27:12 AM PST by dr_who_2
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To: neverdem

Thanks for the ping!


59 posted on 02/17/2008 10:12:45 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: BroJoeK
In other words, will the return of ice threaten Polar Bears with extinction?

Nah.

It will be something equally ridiculous.

Like overpopulation of polar bears bears threat of extinction.
60 posted on 02/17/2008 10:25:22 AM PST by RedMonqey
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