Climate Change in Effect

I really love well-written science stories. The best ones present data, maybe show off a diagram or some visual representation of it, draw conclusions, and point towards new avenues of research to confirm their findings. All of these conditions are found in this story about NASA finding proof that the Arctic Sea Ice is diminishing. Using satellite images from 1979 to the present date, they actually prove that the ice cap is shrinking from year to year. There are two studies presented in the story: one that deals only with the total volume of sea ice, and the other that deals with the ratio of perennial sea ice to seasonal ice.

In the first study, researchers found that the overall sea ice coverage is shrinking at an increasing rate, whereas in 1979, there was a loss of 1.5% area loss, in the last two years, there was a loss of 6%. The researchers speculate that increasing temperatures and shorter winters are to blame. There have been other studies that show that summerlike conditions are growing longer by studying the precipitation cycle in North America. I'm not sure whether one can draw the conclusion that the temperature increase is likely due to greenhouse gases.

The other study is more interesting, because it looks at the distribution of perennial ice with regard to seasonal ice. Those researchers are finding that the loss of perennial ice since 1979 has increased from a 9% loss per year to 14% in the last two years. The reasons for this increased loss is not clear, but the team is speculating that there has been a change in wind patterns, pushing the perennial ice to warmer parts of the Arctic Ocean. Their other conclusion is more dramatic in terms of witnessing climate change. Seasonal ice absorbs more heat than perennial ice, instead of reflecting the sun's heat away from the planet. With more seasonal ice in the Arctic, we could see another source of warming develop for the Northern Hemisphere.

Here is a link to animated versions of the two studies' data.