Arctic

There are simple ways to reduce cargo ship CO2 emissions right now

The International Maritime Organization’s recent decision to adopt tighter emission rules for the global shipping fleet is a step in the right direction for an industry whose emissions have been practically unregulated. Ship emissions are blamed for 60,000 deaths worldwide each year — a serious public health threat. The new rules, however, only address sulfur […]

NOAA’s arctic report card shows stronger effects of warming in Greenland and permafrost

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its annual Arctic report card with grim findings: Temperature increases, a near-record loss of summer sea ice, and a melting of surface ice in Greenland are among some of the evidence of continued warming in the Arctic, according to an annual review of conditions in the Arctic […]

NSIDC stunner: Arctic ice at ‘Likely record-low volume’

Looks like the Arctic may have set a record this year after all. The National Snow and Ice Data Center said today that Arctic sea ice volume likely hit a record low in 2008. They reconfirmed that the sea ice extent (or area) “dropped to the second-lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1979” and […]

Methane releases from under the Arctic seabed could jeopardize GHG stabilization

The U.K.’s Independent reported today some pretty shocking news in “Exclusive: The methane time bomb”: The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists … The Independent has been passed […]

Summer ice in the Arctic has recovered–Was the Arctic ice retreat a climate anomaly?

(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: Sea ice at the north pole recovered a whopping 9.4 percent from 2007 to 2008 despite the doom and gloom predictions of the alarmists. Yet another wheel falls off the global warming bandwagon. Answer: It is true that the minimum summer ice extent […]

Climate-wise, August was a pretty dull month

Last month, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reported, “the globally-averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was … the ninth warmest for the January-July year-to-date period” (out of 129 years), as I reported here. The first seven months of the year were +0.45°C (+0.81°F) warmer than the 1961-1990 average. Now here’s the shocking news. The […]

Despite cooler weather, Arctic ice retreat just misses last year’s mark

Although “This year was cooler and other weather conditions weren’t as bad” as last year, the Arctic sea-ice minimum came within 150,000 square miles of last year’s record decline. This is clear evidence that last year was no fluke and that human-caused global warming has become a major — if not the dominant — driver […]

Arctic shrinks by one Alaska and three Arizonas in August

Another week, another record in Arctic ice-loss announced by the National Snow and Ice Data Center: Following a record rate of ice loss through the month of August, Arctic sea ice extent already stands as the second-lowest on record, further reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline. […]

North Pole an ‘island’ for first time in 125,000 years

The fabled Northwest and Northeast passages are now open. That makes the North Pole an island for the first time in human history, most likely for the first time “since the beginning of the last Ice Age 125,000 years ago.” In the last few days, however, Arctic ice melt has slowed, so we might not […]