By WUWT Regular Just The Facts
Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area reached a minimum of 2.447 Million Sq km on February 23rd, 2014, which exceeded the prior 2nd highest minimum of 2.423 Million Sq km that occurred on February 22nd, 2013. The highest recorded Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area minimum remains 2.473 Million Sq km, which occurred on March 1st, 2003. The data from Cryosphere Today can be found here. Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area has now been above average for over 2 years:
The last negative anomaly recorded was on November 23rd, 2011, data here and graph below:
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent reached its 3rd 4th highest minimum of 3.515 Million Sq km on February 20th, 2014, which is less than the 3.626 Million Sq km minimum that occurred on February 17th, 2003, the 3.650 Million Sq km minimum which occurred on February 19th, 2013 and the record high minimum of 3.692 Million Sq km, which occurred on February 20th, 2008.* Corrected Also, Antarctic Sea Ice Extent dipped below 2 standard deviations of the 1981 – 2010 average for the first time since September, 2013, Data can be found here and graph below:
Southern Polar Temperature Lower Troposphere (TLT) has been quite close to average for the last few years;
thus the increase in Southern Sea Ice and Extent is likely primarily driven by wind, atmospheric oscillations and ocean currents, similar to the causes of the recent decline in Northern Sea Ice. In January 2014, Arctic Sea Ice Extent dipped below 2 standard deviations of the 1981 – 2010 average for the first time in over a year;
likely due to the displaced Polar Vortex, which allowed several cold air outbreaks to escape the Arctic region. As result, Great Lakes Ice is within striking distance of a record high;
and a large number of record low temperatures have occurred over the last few days:
Weather aside, Global Sea Ice Area has remained stubbornly average over the year;
and Global Sea Ice Area Anomaly is currently .361 Million Sq km below the 1981 – 2010 average:
I am sure that we can expect to see similar coverage about the 2nd highest Northern Sea Ice Area minimum, like we saw for the Arctic in 2011, e.g.:
“Last month the extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean declined to the second-lowest extent on record. Satellite data from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed that the summertime sea ice cover narrowly avoided a new record low.” NASA
“Sea-ice coverage across the Arctic Ocean has dwindled to its second-lowest level since satellite records started in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.” Reuters
“Sea ice cover in the Arctic in 2011 has passed its annual minimum, reaching the second-lowest level since satellite records began, US scientists say.” BBC
Right?
@RACookPE1978
Very nice post and analysis. If you take that in conjunction with the extended cold stretches in the mid continent of N. America this winter and Europe last winter …. it is very interesting and likely implies more very cold stretches. I am wondering, like a lot of people, how “spring” will be in the Great Lakes area and the upper midwest …
RACookPE1978 says:
March 1, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Brent Walker says:
March 1, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Does this mean that Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will get a colder winter in 2014 than they got in 2013?
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Parts of Australia to the east side have already shown below average temps over the last 2 weeks. Only the west side of the continent has been showing high 90s to low 100s. New Zealand has been below average most of this season. It will be interesting to see how the southern sea ice regrowth does. The end of next week might show a first upward shift in momentum.
Weather polar vortex 30 km, 6 March.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/06/0600Z/wind/isobaric/10hPa/orthographic=39.62,105.14,318
Lock began in the autumn, when in September and October decreased solar activity.
http://oi57.tinypic.com/29c3pg2.jpg
http://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/webform/query.cgi?startday=01&startmonth=09&startyear=2013&starttime=00%3A00&endday=01&endmonth=03&endyear=2014&endtime=00%3A00&resolution=Automatic+choice&picture=on
RACookPE1978 on March 1, 2014 at 4:56 pm
Important comment about the Antarctic situation. What will it take to get the MSM to notice that the South seas are icing up?
Geomagnetic activity cycle 23 and 24.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/Ap.gif
http://article.sapub.org/pdf/10.5923.j.ajee.20120204.02.pdf
“What will it take to get the MSM to notice that the South seas are icing up?”
Well ‘Ship of Fools’ failed to do so….
profitup10 says:
March 1, 2014 at 1:29 pm
Just heard a lady in Ohio say that the ground around her home is frozen to a depth of 8 feet.
That is unbelievable and significant if true. In ’62 and ’63 there was 3 mths of cold in the UK and the ground froze to 1 foot, however, the temps were not as low as some in the uSA this year.
ren says:
March 1, 2014 at 11:58 pm
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The pdf is interesting. I read part of it, but I have so much to read though.
“the data processing methodology has been applied consistently across the record”.
One of the biggest changes they made is how they are now measuring coastal ice, bays, etc….
By including it now…it will show less overall ice….
The “integrated” Arctic Sea Ice status. This is the average ice thickness throughout the years.
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/schweiger/ice_volume/Bpiomas_plot_daily_heff.2sst.png
Note the increase in the average starting in 2014. Just in time for the Polar Vortices.
It’s better shows you How does the weak polar vortex.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ahjy5JgDREo/UxMJueWTJvI/AAAAAAAADQk/GtasJ1UbWzI/s1600/ASI-201402JAXA0301.png
Stephen Richards says:
March 2, 2014 at 4:29 am
Just heard a lady in Ohio say that the ground around her home is frozen to a depth of 8 feet.
My son, who lives in a town in southern Ontario, tells me the frost line is at 6 feet there. And people have been told to let the water running so the pipes do not freeze. As well, they will not be charged for water this month.
There is another graph from Cryosphere Today that show the historical Antarctic Sea ice area much better.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/antarctic.sea.ice.interactive.html
For most of 2014 the Antarctic has been setting records for most ice and no mention in the media about it.
It’s fascinating but hardly surprising to see the news blackout on the steady upward trend in southern hemisphere sea ice. It just doesn’t fit the narrative of doom. It’s a big icy elephant in the room.
Meanwhile, as sure as night follows day, we can prepare ourselves for the media to be full of doom mongers in the very near future. Northern hemisphere sea ice area is currently at 13.048 million sq/km. It’ll need to go some in the next few weeks if it’s going to reach the record smallest satellite-era maximum of 14.64 million sq/km set in 2006 and 2011.
Of course this doesn’t tell us anything much in isolation, but a new record low maximum will be newsworthy precisely because it fits the narrative they would have us believe, and will definitely be “yet more proof of CAGW” for those that choose to think so. I can already picture the screaming headlines in the newspapers…
Thanks JTF! I will use your post quotes whenever I am in a discussion with -“We are all gonna freeze because of the Sun and look how much ice there is in Antarctica!”- folks who think the Sun is behind the increased Antarctic ice extent.
KRJ,
Not so fast there buddy, lets think this through.
If the media go nuts over the lower Arctic ice extent because it is now so hot in the Arctic, then where did all the cold air from the polar vortex come from?
If all the cold air from the polar vortex came from the Arctic then would it be logical to think the arctic is now a little warmer?
The warmbots will have to mull over this for a while before they issue any directives to the compliant media.
Cheers
just the facts
15-year global warming pause, near record high sea ice coverage at Arctic and Antarctica, record low temperatures in many US locations. IMO these are not mere coincidences. This is what solar physicists call Dalton and Maunder-like minimums for solar cycle 24. Talk about global cooling for a change.
Oh here’s the link
http://notrickszone.com/2013/11/11/german-scientists-solar-cycle-24-points-to-dalton-or-maunder-like-minimum-boding-ill-for-a-climate-cooling/
KRJ Pietersen says:
March 2, 2014 at 11:18 am
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The Arctic sea ice is going to remain at low levels until the Atlantic warm flow tapers off. That may be upcoming in the next 3 months or so. A strong cold sst anomaly has taken hold between Nova Scotia and Europe. This has cut off the constant warm anomaly flow that has been in progress for the last several years. The perfect combination for cooling may well be setting up right now. With the Great Lakes region experiencing such a deep cold, the likelihood of a cold spring and cool summer is high. I imagine that the cold sst anomaly off of Nova Scotia is due to the polar flow crossing eastward after exiting the eastern US. All of the above could lead to a negative shift in the Arctic by the beginning of summer.
At the same time the warm pool anomaly in the North Pacific has shed 25% of it,s heat content over the last several weeks. It was at +3.3 and is now down to +2.39. The Bering Sea area now has a cold stream moving into the area off of the east Eurasian coast. That has been gradually displacing the warm sst anomalies over the last 3 months. Alaska has finally seen a temp drop to normal after staying well above average all winter long. All of these changes are going to add up, as this year progresses.
[The mods will refrain from further commenting on the personal crystalline ice particles worn by or exhibited on the persons or personnel responding to a sea ice discussion. Mod]
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Can’t resist.
We are getting pelleted by crystalline ice particles here in Mid North Carolina. WUWT?!?
The forsythia and daffodils are usually out by now. Instead the ground is covered with ice not flowers.
ren says: March 1, 2014 at 11:58 pm
Geomagnetic activity cycle 23 and 24.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/Ap.gif
http://article.sapub.org/pdf/10.5923.j.ajee.20120204.02.pdf
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The problem with that paper is it uses the
mangled‘Adjusted’ Global temperature (first figure) instead of the raw data therefore the conclusions are incorrect.SEE:
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/hansen-the-climate-chiropractor/
This is an excellent example of the magnitude of failures caused by Hansen et al.s tampering with the data. Decades worth of ‘scientific findings’ out the window because of these out and out liars and billions of dollars down the drain.
Time to cut the funding of science and academia!
ICE AND SNOW… Here’s some colorful relief for all you wonderful WUWT readers longing for spring.
And this is especially for you, dear Gail. You who do so MUCH for truth in science here on WUWT, here is a BIG DIGITAL BOUQUET of color from me to you.
(and it’s Mt. Vernon, lol, my home town)
Skagit Valley Tulips, 2013 (full screen is LOVELY)
For some perspective…
Flying Over Skagit Valley Flower Bulb Fields
It rains a lot here, but boy is it pretty…
(at about 2:24, when you see Mt. Baker in the upper left of the screen,
you are looking toward where I grew up …)
#(:))
{too much about me, I know, but the thread IS almost defunct, I think…}
Janice Moore says:
March 3, 2014 at 5:22 pm
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Is there any gold in them thar hills in the background?
Hi, Gold Min(er?),
LOL, nope. And no black gold, “ole, that is,” either. Just a lot of gravel. In fact, there’s a town called Concrete up river a piece from where I grew up… . Thus, in 1890, my great grandfather left the area of them thar hills to head up to the Klondike in Alaska to find some. He did. A nugget the size of his newborn baby’s fist.
Hope YOUR ventures all pan out, Goldie.
Take care,
Janice