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You are browsing the archive for Arctic Archives - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

27 December 2016

The Dogs of Winter May Start Howling Again Soon.

There are growing signs that Arctic air may return to the U.S. by late next week as the mild weather pattern of the last ten days begins to fall apart. There is still a lot of uncertainty about whether or not this pattern will lock in or if this will be just a temporary blast of cold before milder Pacific air takes back over. The big clue to these changes is …

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22 September 2011

NASA Video of the Summer 2011 Arctic Melt

In case you have not seen this video- As I mentioned yesterday, the NSIDC put this summer’s minimum of ice as the 2nd lowest on record. When talking about the sea ice, there are three measurements that are most important. 1.Extent and 2. Area are calculated differently and the IARC website describes it very succinctly here: “The area of sea-ice cover is often defined in two ways, i.e., sea-ice “extent” …

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6 September 2011

2011 Arctic Ice Reaches Second Lowest on Record- One or two weeks of melting left.

The NSIDC updated the Arctic ice numbers today and announced that the ice melt has now reached the second lowest on the satellite record. From NSIDC: Overview of conditions Average ice extent for August 2011 was 5.52 million square kilometers (2.13 million square miles). This is 160,000 square kilometers (61,800 square miles) above the previous record low for the month, set in August 2007, and 2.15 million square kilometers (830,000 …

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8 August 2011

Weekend Digest- New NASA App & Record Low Arctic Ice In July

  I spent much of the week in Washington,DC for a meeting of a committee that looks at the science involved with the GOES R weather satellite that will be launched in 2015 (budget allowing!). GOES R will be a totally new generation of weather satellite and will change the way the planet is monitored for weather and climate. More about this soon but here are some of the interesting …

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3 March 2011

February Arctic Ice Ties 2005 for Lowest On Record

  The decline in Arctic sea ice continues. Image from NOAA-NSIDC. The National Snow Ice Data Center released updated ice data today and the decline continues. The average ice cover in February was 14.36 million sq. km. This ties with February 2005 for lowest recorded in the month. The ice over the last year has continued to track at, or below, the all time record low year in 2007. The …

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16 February 2011

Despite What You Saw on Twitter- January 2011 was 17th Warmest.

The National Climate Data Center released the January temp. anomalies today. In spite of the cold and snowy January in the Eastern USA, it was the 17th warmest on record. The global sea temps. were the 11th warmest on record. What is really eye catching is the intense cold in Central and East Asia. The weakening La Nina, in the Pacific, is also to be seen along with the intense …

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9 February 2011

Two weeks at The Top of The World

I was asked by the great folks at Earth Gauge (the National Environmental Education Foundation) to write about my trip to Greenland last summer, and it was published in their newsletter this week. I thought I’d share it here along with the pics. You can also see it on Earth Gauge here: http://www.earthgauge.net/2011/two-weeks-at-the-top-of-the-world-a-trip-to-the-greenland-ice-cap (Part 1 of 2) Within just a few months last year, I found myself standing both at …

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28 January 2011

Far off Galaxies and Hockey Sticks of Arctic Plankton-Lots of wild science this week.

It’s Friday, and there has been some really fascinating science news this week. So here is a quick summary of what caught my eye (and links to find out more about it). In A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY First, is the announcement in NATURE that the most distant galaxy known has been detected. It’s 13.2 billion light years away, and since the Universe itself is 13.7 billion years old, we …

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26 January 2011

While The U.S. Shivered- Amazing Arctic Warmth

NASA released an image today that shows just how strong the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was in January.  The warmth in the Canadian Arctic and parts of Greenland was amazing. (So was the snow in the Southeast USA!) Also, notice that extreme East Russia seems to have the highest anomalies. This is also typical of a strongly negative NAO. The negative phase of the NAO was …

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5 January 2011

NOAA/NSIDC: December Arctic Sea Ice Lowest on Record

The National Snow Ice Data Center (NSIDC) released the Arctic ice summary for December today. It’s the lowest on record at 12 million square km. This is 270,000 sq. km below the previous record. The highly negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation is likely a contributing factor here.  The negative NAO has drained much of the polar cold down into two main regions; Eastern N. America and Western Europe. …

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