People send me stuff. Sometimes it is stuff I’m not expected to see. It seems NOAA is getting hot and bothered about the Arctic.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke recently approved a plan to prohibit the expansion of commercial fishing in U.S. Arctic waters to enable researchers time to gather the ecosystem data essential to managing a sustainable fishery.
The area involved — roughly 200,000 square miles of ocean north of the Bering Strait — has no commercial fisheries yet, but it could if the seasonal Arctic ice pack continues to melt.
Climate change is happening faster in the Arctic than any other place on Earth — and with wide-ranging global consequences. I saw this firsthand when I participated in a recent “listening and learning” expedition to the northern corners of Alaska’s Arctic region with Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; and other members of President Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. We witnessed an area abundant with natural resources, diverse wildlife, proud local and native peoples — and a most uncertain future.
According to the most recent Arctic Report Card, the Arctic Ocean continues to warm, and seasonal Arctic ice is retreating at an alarming rate.
Why is this so significant? A diminished sea ice cover has the potential to open up impassable parts of the Arctic to what could amount to unchecked “booms” in various national and international enterprises: commercial fishing, transportation, mining and energy exploration. A warming Arctic also disturbs worldwide weather patterns, endangers fish and wildlife, and, ultimately, threatens our national security.
Although the Arctic is arguably the world’s fastest changing ocean, it remains largely a scientific mystery. Before we enact plans to protect and zone the Arctic Ocean for specific uses, we must learn more about its marine ecosystems, ocean circulation patterns and changing chemistry.
An aggressive scientific research program must be conducted collaboratively among Arctic nations, government agencies, research institutions and others with a stake in the region. NOAA is heavily involved in a number of joint initiatives, including:
- The Russian-American Long-Term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) – NOAA, the National Science Foundation and the Russian Academy of Sciences recently launched a 40-day research expedition from Nome, Alaska, to observe physical and biological environmental changes in the Northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea.
- Extended Continental Shelf Mapping – A joint, 41-day U.S.-Canada expedition is under way to map the entire continental shelf using the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent. NOAA and the Joint Hydrographic Center will lead the effort to collect bathymetric data used to measure ocean depths and map the sea floor.
- Climate Monitoring – NOAA’s Barrow Observatory, in conjunction with the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring facility nearby, provides a model for an international network of atmospheric climate observatories. NOAA satellites track the extent of ice and snow cover, and provide a nearly 30-year record of Arctic atmospheric conditions.
NOAA provides those living and working in the Arctic with critical information products such as weather warnings, ice cover analysis, hydrographic maps, and search and rescue satellite-aided tracking. As efforts to explore and understand the Arctic region expand, NOAA will be called upon by a growing number of stakeholders — from the U.S. military to tour operators to commercial shippers — to provide an even greater suite of services to help ensure these activities are conducted safely and efficiently.
To learn more about the full complement of NOAA activities under way in the Arctic, please visit NOAA’s Arctic Science Laboratory, Arctic Research Office and Arctic Theme Page Web sites.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jane Lubchenco
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator
______________________________________________________________
This message was generated for the Under Secretary of Commerce
for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator by the NOAA
Information Technology Center/Financial and Administrative
Computing Division
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Do these people not even look at their own data?
Yeah it was receding but apparently not now!
Such BS is pI$$ing me off!
DaveE.
Does this mean that they will stop the “see the Arctic Ice before it disappears” cruise ships, sailboats, skiboats, and ice walkabouts? And end all our fun????
“Although the Arctic is arguably the world’s fastest changing ocean, it remains largely a scientific mystery. Before we enact plans to protect and zone the Arctic Ocean for specific uses, we must learn more about its marine ecosystems, ocean circulation patterns and changing chemistry.”
Yup. We don’t want the pleasure boaters in 2030 littering the sea floor with beer cans. (The litter is already off to a good start thanks to the drums the Catlin Survey left last year. Did someone go out and retrieve the barrels or not?)
Do you want to see the arctic in the summer?
Check out this video :
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/6/oooguruk-island-june-23rd-2009-790036.html
This is at an oil development (Oooguruk – Inupiat for “Bearded Seal”) which my company found in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea (yes, I work for an oil company – but it’s not big oil – it’s small oil – only 15 employees : Geologist (with a meteorological background) -Skeptical & damn proud of it! )
Note the date – late June this year – sustained NE wind brought the pack ice right up & over the island. Commercial fisheries any time soon – Highly unlikely !
“seasonal Arctic ice is retreating at an alarming rate”
The rate is undoubtedly alarming for those politically correct within NOAA!
I expect the minimum seasonal Arctic ice to show one of largest increases year on year ever recorded.
Oh Yes.
The Economist, Aug 29, p44, carried a report about the Canadian gov’t and especially its prime minister Harper and the frozen North which they said was supposed to be melting.
As regular readers of this board know I tend to write letters about these things where the quotes contradict actual scientific observation. So I wrote them one on this but whether they will publish it remains to be seen.
Don’t hold your breath.
But of course what my letter says is true. the Arctic has not been warming, at least according to the DMI, since the 1950’s, and the Arctic ice is doing just fine.
End of panic, and of political interest.
Whatever there may be of economic interest in the Arctic, from the sea routes to the mineral deposits is fast becoming inacessable because it is freezing up again.
As it always does.
Kindest Regards
H.R. (18:29:24) :
Yup. We don’t want the pleasure boaters in 2030 littering the sea floor with beer cans. (The litter is already off to a good start thanks to the drums the Catlin Survey left last year. Did someone go out and retrieve the barrels or not?)
_____________________________________________________
Apparently they did. It’s the only thing on the site since they got back – or at least the only headline I could be bothered to read.
Maybe Catlin realized that their name was becoming synonymous with “stupid moron stooges” or something, and stopped the funding. In any event, there’s no link to any peer/stooge-reviewed paper on how thin was the Arctic ice, as measured so scientifically.
…. actually, just checked back, and they do have some of the usual garbage on melting ice, from August 12th.
Looks like it’s being funded by the WWF now, ha ha ha. How topical.
If they are so worried about the ice perhaps they should keep the ice breakers out.
philincalifornia (19:42:28) :
“…. actually, just checked back, and they do have some of the usual garbage on melting ice, from August 12th.
Looks like it’s being funded by the WWF now, ha ha ha. How topical.”
Too funny!
Note that NOAA (from the article above) wants “to learn more,” but I don’t see them lining up to fund another go by Pen Hadow & Company. And I suppose their data has perhaps been turned over to Mann et al for ‘proper analysis’? ;o)
Thanks for the Catlin update. That expedition shall forever live in infamy.
Jeff L, that was a really remarkable video. Do you really mean that all of that ice moving was because of wind?
Thank you for sharing that.
There is another point here if a little off topic by a pole.
It has become fashionable to take cruise ships into Antarctic waters to view whatever may be seen. Probably penguins falling over backwards when the helicopters go over. Whatever.
Except these cruise ships are not ice hardened or even in many cases double skinned. Nor do they have adequate life saving gear for such waters.
Very profitable no doubt but utter folly.
I imagine it gives the Chilean Navy a ten aspirin headache.
Kindest Regards.
Going to need to appoint a Czar to oversee the movement of all the polar bears to more suitable lands.
lol
Jeff L (18:42:14) :
Damn fascinating video, Jeff. Thanks for sharing.
Like you said….”not any time soon.”
An sea ice surge. WOW. That is a rare sight that most humans never get a chance to witness.
Nothing can stand in its way, that’s quite obvious.
But wait, “Arctic Seas Ice-Free by 2013”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7139797.stm
Gimme a break.
Nothing like a little real time video to trump failed news stories, failed climate models, and Greenpeace liars who finally admit to prevaricating about Arctic ice.
Thanks again, Jeff.
A video is worth a billion words!
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
The leakage (so near the end of the Arctic melt season) of this letter to Anthony plus the article at
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/2769/Not-Again-Media-Now-Promoting-Arctic-Hockey-Stick–Scientists-Rebuke-Latest-Study
together make me wonder if we (the easily brainwashed masses) are being prepped for a barrage of press releases that would accompany a very low Arctic sea ice minimum, should one occur this year.
Since a remarkably low minimum probably will not happen this year, then probably the propagana will be light. But any perveyor of propaganda worth his/her salt would need to be prepared (and have the population prepped), just in case.
Jeff L (18:42:14) :Do you want to see the arctic in the summer?
Check out this video: http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/6/oooguruk-island-june-23rd-2009-790036.html
REAL TIME proof that sea ice movement and fluctuation has a significant relationship to the wind patterns across the Arctic.
In the span of a few minutes, the “piling-on” effect of the ice in this one location is nothing less than spectacular.
Truly a SURGE. A wind-driven ICE SURGE. [If it weren’t wind driven then I would take the liberty here and say it reminded me of a mini tsunami.]
Damn fascinating stuff.
They really believe their own BS don’t they?
Greenpeace was on the radio this morning tell us that a team is aboard their Arctic Sunrise icebreaker and is currently measuring the retreating glaciers in Greenland.
Jeff L (18:42:14) :
Excellent video. I’ve never worked in the Arctic – it’s usually tropical rain forests, deserts or offshore I find myself.
I’m like you – I’m an oily geologist too. I’ve only rarely worked for big oil, it’s usually just fairly big to not very big at all oil I work with. I’m also ‘Skeptical & damn proud of it!’ too!
“According to the most recent Arctic Report Card, the Arctic Ocean continues to warm, and seasonal Arctic ice is retreating at an alarming rate. ”
Report card from whom? According to Arctic -Roos 2008 was above 2007 and 2009 is nearly 3/4 million square miles above 2008.
http://arctic-roos.org/observations/satellite-data/sea-ice/observation_images/ssmi_ice_area.png
Despite peaks and troughs, DMI is reporting current arctic temperatures as near as normal as one can hope for:
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
I am sure the good Dr. Under-secretary is not stupid, and I am sure she has access to the same data I do…. so what explanations are left?
Jeff L (18:42:14) :
This is at an oil development (Oooguruk – Inupiat for “Bearded Seal”)
My 6 month old daughter said ‘eeglybeeg’ once. Can you ask one of your Inupiat friends what it means?
NOAA apparently has surplus funds and people. They have excess resources and time available and seem to be searching for something for these people to do. Times being what they are and given that this will be the third consecutive year of ice INCREASE in the Arctic, I would suggest that NOAA consider a bit of downsizing.
Well, the blather about the ongoing retreat of the arctic ice cover is the typical warmist pandering pap, but if their true objective is as stated to “enable researchers time to gather the ecosystem data essential to managing a sustainable fishery”, that seems reasonable and responsible. If, on the other hand, the goal is to forever lock up the arctic to prevent any and all (dare I say, sustainable?) exploitation of fisheries or its other natural resources, then that’s a pretty darn big wilderness reserve.
We must keep the HOPE that CHANGE wont happen till they pass Cap and Trade….
More BS from Hansen and crew…
Jeff L (18:42:14) :
Your video is clever but it misleads. The ice is retreating. Don’t you get it, RETREATING!! You simply reversed the video, didn’t you? Small oil learns from big oil. I was big minerals and we did not get along with you oilies because of your devious ways. (Joking, of course).
It is usually educational to see the puny power of Man pitted against the might of Nature. Some people just don’t understand orders of magnitude of power, especially multiple. How good it would be to see this footage shown in classrooms.