There’s a lot of buzz about this in the blogosphere because of the constant barrage of alarming reports being fed by the media on Arctic sea ice melt. As we pointed out yesterday, the WUWT forecast is that sea ice is on its way to a recovery again in 2010.
Here’s where the problem is, the magenta marker is the Baltic sea:
And the AP video follows with this description: A passenger ferry with nearly 1,000 people on board broke free early Friday from heavy pack ice that had trapped it for hours in the Baltic Sea of Sweden’s east coast. Dozens of other ships remained stuck and awaiting assistance. (March 4)
Richard North at the EU Referendum writes of this event:
Sceptics can, of course, make hay with these reports – as indeed the warmists have exploited any number of transient weather phenomena – but it is germane to note that the Baltic incident is partly the result of gale-force winds which are compacting the ice and making it difficult to navigate.
Something very similar happened during September 1983 in the Northeast passage, when an unusually early freeze-up and persistent northwesterly winds that drove heavy multi-year ice into Proliv Longa and against the Siberian coast of Chukotka. Dozens of ships were trapped, creating a major emergency which lasted several months, a fascinating account latterly published in the journal Arctic in 1985.
This brings home the salient point that mass shifts in Arctic ice have more to do with wind patterns than they do temperature, something Anthony Watts helpfully confirms in a recent post. As a result, Arctic ice extent is recovering from its 2007 low and is currently within a million square kilometres of normal and increasing as peak coverage approaches.
Here, then, we have a complex, multi-factoral phenomenon, but it is one which the warmists have chosen to interpret almost entirely as evidence of global warming, claiming that temperature rises are the main if not sole cause.
Meanwhile, the setup for increased Arctic sea ice is looking good for 2010.
This is of course consistent with predictions for global warming/climate change/climate crisis.
I see that the map has managed to label Scotland as England.
Could you fix this? When I go abroad on holiday, most people I meet have only a vague idea where Scotland actually is. This will confuse them even further.
Bill
In your map at the top of this piece, the country labelled “England” is in fact Scotland.
Just thought you’d like to know.
Heeey! – England, Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Copenhagen is the capital city of Denmark 😉
Thats strange. I always thought the top bit of Britain was called Scotland?
Seems a very reasonable explanation.
I suspect the, or at least some, Scots will not be very enamoured of their country being marked as England in the first picture. Reminds me of a wall map in the Army Museum in St Petersburg showing London as roughly where Manchester is!
This is not nearly as amusing as when Sam Branson, the spoiled rich son of Sir Richard Branson, got stuck in the Arctic sea ice during a kayak trip to the North Pole. The expedition was meant to raise public awareness about global warming but mother nature refused to cooperate. It will be very difficult to top that event in terms of sheer entertainment value:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/03/adventures-in-arctic-kayaking/
We need to see more of these stories. Facts refute the forecasts of the warmists. They can’t make correct models
Erratum: “. . .the WUWT forecast is that sea ice is on it’s way to a recovery again in 2010.”
its, not it’s.
Sorry to pick nits, but quality is important, especially for lead posts. /Mr L
REPLY: You know, I’m not perfect, and often times I write these things while trying to get my son ready for school in the morning as was the case here. I’m also fighting a cold, lack of sleep, and a schedule that I’m sure many of you wouldn’t envy. Walk a mile in my shoes while trying to keep this website updated with interesting and relevant content.
You guys need to decide if you want to me to nit pick me to death over inconsequential pedantic details, or have this website with fresh content every day. I don’t have a proofreader, copy editor, or any other writing assistance like a newspaper or magazine does. I try to be correct on the first pass, but I’ll never catch 100% of the grammar, spelling, or other small errors.
For the rest that took issue with where I placed the label for England, I’ve fixed that too. I tried to be helpful by providing a custom map, what I got was whining over the placement of one label to avoid another. Maybe I’ll think twice about the extra effort next time.
I think I’ll take a few days sabbatical. I’ve blogged every day since late November 2006 without a break.
– Anthony
Part of the problem is that Sweden’s best ice breaker Oden is rented by scientists and is currently at the Antarctic…
The people responsible explains that “this was decided before we knew that we weren’t going to get a normal winter”.
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/sveriges-basta-isbrytare-i-antarktis_4375475.svd
In spite of an unusually cold winter in Scandinavia, Swedens second largest lake, Vattern, is reported to be partly open. This is believed to be due to strong winds breaking up the ice cover. While Vanern, the largest Scandinavian lake is all covered with ice. Area of ice might not be the best measure. Total volume is harder to assess.
I agree one won’t make too much of one cold winter. It might, however well be the beginning of a trend. Let’s try to survive to see..
“Rotten” wind….
Too much ice -> weather is not climate
Lack of ice -> climate change
We need some polar bears to complete this picture.
I am compulsively watching the continued growth of Arctic sea ice, and wondering if the maximum can set a record since 2003. We’ll soon know.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.area.arctic.png
Absolutely right, Mr Lynn. Bad spelling, grammar and punctuation on the Internet spreads like a virus. As a teacher I see plenty of examples of that. Pupils just assume that if it’s on the Internet it’s bound to be right! Just like when they read about disappearing polar bears and such like.
Plenty of people have commented on this already but can I also add my voice to the people who have pointed out that England does not actually reach the far north of Great Britain. (But when foreigners hear English people talking about England all the time rather than Britain or the UK – which they do – then you can’t exactly blame foreigners for making the same mistake – which they do.)
The Feb. Arctic Oscillation Index is out and is definitely jaw dropping, with -4.266, it do not just hit the record ( since 1950 ) itself, it also make 2009-2010 DJF the lowest seasonal AO value since the record begin ( again 1950 ).
With the backdrop of this, arctic is simply full of thick ice ……. if the condition of the spring and summer is not too far from normal, then we may actually see the arctic sea ice extent going back to 1s.d. within “normal”. On the other word, warmists are going to have a very very chilly summer.
Warm Al is in Norway, promoting its junk book. Gore effect in full swing.
Wow! And Al Gore is still claiming we are at some sort of tipping point. When will he learn to shut his pie hole? For every time he speaks of global warming, something like this happens. Rather ironic, isn’t it?
Iceland is green and Greenland is white – this Global warming is Worse Than We Thought – I’m Super serial!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/20/wwf.climate.report/index.html
Come on guys… that’s just the way Google Earth labels stuff. It doesn’t actually have to be accurate, it’s just a Google product.
Meanwhile, I want it on record… I don’t believe most “skeptics” take things like this as “signs” of anything. From what I can see, we all use these sorts of things to mock the warmists, who take anything remotely warm as “signs”.
It’s cold in the north. Always has been, always will be. It’s not wise to count on open seas in the north, especially not this time of year. Unfortunately, I now know many people who seem to believe there is hardly any ice left… sigh.
“”” Bill Toland (07:57:32) :
I see that the map has managed to label Scotland as England.
Could you fix this? When I go abroad on holiday, most people I meet have only a vague idea where Scotland actually is. This will confuse them even further.
Bill
5
03
2010
Scottie (07:59:41) :
In your map at the top of this piece, the country labelled “England” is in fact Scotland.
Just thought you’d like to know. “””
Well using the same standards you use that country labelled Sweden is actually Finland.
OK fair to gripe that the UK is NOT England (only).
It IS the first map of the World I have ever seen that is centered on Scotland; so take what you can get; while you can !
George
PS: Howcome I don’t see New Zealand anywhere on your map ? Well I guess we’ll have to settle for Zeeland, which is on your map.
More of the story, translated from Norwegian by Google…….
http://translate.google.no/translate?hl=no&sl=no&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftenposten.no%2Fnyheter%2Furiks%2Farticle3550731.ece
“In your map at the top of this piece, the country labelled “England” is in fact Scotland…”
and the bit which is England is labelled ‘Copenhagen’.
I don’t know whether to be insulted or pleased….