You gotta love it when the Earth gives back the love, especially today.
Those who have been following NSIDC and JAXA sea ice plots have noted that this has been an extraordinary year so far, with Arctic sea ice hitting the “normal” line on some datasets. Today the Earth gave back more for us.
As of today, JAXA shows that we have more ice than any time on this date for the past 8 years of Aqua satellite measurement for this AMSRE dataset. Yes, it isn’t much, but if this were September, and the sea ice minimum was down by this much compared to all other years, you can bet your sweet bippy we’d see it screamed in news headlines worldwide.
Of course some will argue that it “doesn’t matter” in the context of trend, or that it’s just a “weather” blip. Let us remind our friends of such blips the next time a heat wave or a storm is cited as proof of global warming.
What can be said about the short term trend in Arctic sea ice is that for the past two years, it has recovered from the historic low of 2007. It recovered in 2008, and more in 2009. If today’s Earth Day gift is any indication, it appears that it is on track now for a third year of recovery in 2010 as we’ve been saying at WUWT since fall of 2009.
I’d show NSIDC’s current Arctic Sea Ice graph also, but their website was down earlier today, and the current sea ice graph is not updated. But Steve Goddard has made some comparison overlays that are interesting.
He writes via email:
NSIDC’s web site is down today, but I overlaid DMI on top of the NSIDC graph and it should have hit the mean line today. Same story for JAXA. Images are below.
DMI uses 30% concentration, so their scale is lower than NSIDC and JAXA at 15%. I shifted the DMI data upwards and stretched vertically to visually match the NISDC data.
The second image is JAXA, DMI and NSIDC together. JAXA also needed to be shifted vertically as they apparently use a different algorithm for calculating extent than NSIDC. All three track each other fairly closely during the spring, DMI diverges from the others during the fall freeze up – probably because of the higher concentration requirements.
Blue is NSIDC. Green is JAXA. Black is DMI. The thick black line is the NSIDC mean. The dashed line is the 2007 historic low.
ADDED: Here is a wider view that shows that the three time series match closely over the interval of the NSIDC graph
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Happy Earth Day everybody!
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it’s not the arctic, it’s california…but there is normaly NO ice this time of year.
So it’s been warmer than usual (allegedly) in the Arctic and the sea ice coverage is up. Does this mean as well as making it snow more AGW also makes the ice grow?
It was also the latest peak in ice since records began, if you remember from previous WUWT articles, Ice Cap, Climate Audit, etc.
BTW, one POINT can be assessed by being within an S.D. and not having significance. You can look at things this way if you have minimal math/statistical training. When there are a series of points, then trend analysis must be employed. For example, year on year, the life span goes up among males and females. Each year is within an S.D. of the predecessor. However, trend analysis shows highly significant increase in life span over the years. This shows how incapable most in the cult are in using proper statistical analyses.
I think the cult will soon proclaim, since their followers have a day or two memory retention, that the ice only turned up AFTER the Iceland volcano erupted. Of course, the measurements were up before that happened, but this report came after!
Count on it. The volcano saved us from an inferno. WUWT? WTFIT? But that is their banter and babble.
Aside from admiring polar bears, from a discrete distance, the main interest in Arctic sea ice is its relatively high albedo. Note that on April 22, only 25% of solar radiation makes it through the atmosphere to the surface at the North Pole. On June 21, when the “solar altitude” will attain its maximum of 23.5 degrees, 47% of solar radiation will reach the surface at the pole (if the atmosphere is clear). Midsummer is the only time when the sea ice has a significant reflective effect.
DirkH (12:50:38)
“Keep your tongue in check everyone.”
I disagree.
All that evil needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing.
So do something. Do not go quietly into the night.
R. de Haan (11:11:21) :
thanks for the link. that site is a disgrace. there are billions of stuff and changes they can show on the face of this earth that we may or may not like. But this kind of anecdotal laundry-list is the refuge worst kind of science.
Where is the post from Anu saying how all this eggshell-thin new ice will be gone by September as we hit the lowest extent in a decade?
I don’t know, something seems missing without such “Enjoy it now, you’ll be crying later!” posts. Gives a skeptic like me a warm fuzzy feeling and puts a nice smile on my face. Anyone else get that?
björn (12:45:40) :
If you have any unwanted global warming in Sweden, please send it to Colorado.
I’m not overly surprised that Swedish climate scientists are in agreement with their funding sources.
And on this Earth Day, it is snowing in Prescott Arizona!
Too bad CO2 isn’t pushing up the temps more, I could sure use more warmth this weekend …
If one looks at the monthly anomalies for the Arctic on the NASA GISS website, we see that from Dec 09 to Mar 10 all are in the ‘red zone’. So with all that heat in the area how does the ice cover increase and thicken? Any explanations? Maybe it is all to do with wind direction and strength (or the temps extrapolations are faulty).
See Arctic monthly temp anomalies on:-
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/
amazing, given CSMonitor is generally pro CAGW:
(six pages)20 April: Christian Science Monitor: Buying carbon offsets may ease eco-guilt but not global warming
Voluntary carbon offsets are a ‘Wild West’ market ripe for fraud, exaggeration, and poorly run projects that probably do little to ease global warming
An investigation by The Christian Science Monitor and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has found that individuals and businesses who are feeding a $700 million global market in offsets are often buying vague promises instead of the reductions in greenhouse gases they expect.
They are buying into projects that are never completed, or paying for ones that would have been done anyhow, the investigation found. Their purchases are feeding middlemen and promoters seeking profits from green schemes that range from selling protection for existing trees to the promise of planting new ones that never thrive. In some cases, the offsets have consequences that their purchasers never foresaw, such as erecting windmills that force poor people off their farms…
Mr. Skar, of Greenpeace, says the industry is rife with financial speculators in flannel shirts: “Carbon cowboys. People from the most bizarre backgrounds. People who have no prior interest in the environment.”..
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2010/0420/Buying-carbon-offsets-may-ease-eco-guilt-but-not-global-warming/(page)/3
Happy Earth Day, Komrades!
A ten cent observation with no supporting information: What if the el Nino of 1998 was represented a decade later in the arctic when warm waters finally arrived there?
I’m well aware of the wind factor also, but these things tend to have more than one cause.
For Earth Day, I think I’ll take the Escalade down to the local earth day celebration and set up a tailgate BBQ!
Obama was right. Elect him president and the earth will heal. Or something?
Happy earth day to its living prophet maximum: Al Baby (aka: “El Gordo”). If we follow his teachings the earth will get rid of the human pollution.
The most reliable (live update) is DMI, its actually showing an INCREASE once again. If this goes on for say another month and ice seems to be THICKER according to CT we may have a NORMAL minimum. What a disaster.
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php
Speaking of love gifts to the mother orb. . . when are we gonna get a SurfaceStations.org update, huh? Prime collection season is nearly upon us! Or are you calling the project “substantially complete” at this point?
When you take a careful look at the 1979 sea-ice area around april 21 you will still find a lot larger ice area than there is now . So from a certain point of view 1979 was an excellent starting year and has not been beaten the last 30 years , so next year only may start to demonstrate new records , but then katla could be blamed and our agw enthousiasts will again stipulate that the trend has not been broken and this is only an incident hiding the general accelerated warming of the atmosphere , so much spoilt by all deniers and other revisionistic and cosmopolitic scam . Comrades let us sing the internationale !
Ian:
It is probably caused by a lack of “M” (see WUWT about temperature reporting).
Without “M”s, where would we be? Could Agent 007 get along without M?
“geoff pohanka (11:35:55) :
Not only is there more Arctic ice today than in past years, the ice is also thicker.
Thicker ice melts more slowly.
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=04&fd=18&fy=1980&sm=04&sd=18&sy=2010”
Is ‘thickness’ usually synonynous with ‘concentration’ here? These maps show a more purplish colour when the ice is more concentrated, but is the ice actually thicker? R Gates has said recently that the ice this year is a lot thinner than other years and that is a cause of concern for him. I suppose it is possible that the ice can be more concentrated but also be thinner, but I’m actually a little confused about these two terms. Is there data available which shows ice thickness as opposed to concentration?
Anyone help out?
R Gates?
I have a big present for Mother Earth.
Sunspot number: 0
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 7 days
2010 total: 14 days (13%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 784 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 21 Apr 2010
http://www.spaceweather.com/
Enjoy the cooling, mother.
whoops, picture did not come through…
It’s not the Arctic, it’s California. But there is normally NO ice here this time of year…
REPLY: just put the URL in for the picture, don’t use tags
I ve done some analysis of one of most northern weather stations: Eureka, in Nunavut Canada: http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/2010/04/eureka.html
I beleive further investigation should be conducted, as temperature variations are clearly not of scientific quality.
Ecotretas
What on earth has happened to the SUN? It was supposed to have kicked into the 24th cycle over two years ago, but here it is still doing practically nothing! Folks, I’m getting worried.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/10jan_solarcycle24/
Just came across this website: http://www.fcpnorthwestpassage.com/
Apparently TV adventureman Bear Grylls will be trying to navigate an “ice-free” Northwest Passage this August to highlight the dangers of global warming.
Following this update on current ice conditions, it should be interesting to see how far they make it.
Earth Day 1970 predicted a coming ice age. Maybe that’s why the Arctic is refreezing now.
Strange how Earth Day coincides with Lenin’s birthday,