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30 November 2010
Warming Lakes and Giant Bubbles To Round Out November
There has been a lot of interesting science over the past few days. Every time I think about writing a post about one thing, I see something new! So here is a little about a bunch of things that caught my eye. The New York Times did an excellent piece on sea level rise and Greenland’s ice melt. Having spent two weeks in Greenland at NEEM in July, this caught …
1 October 2010
Looking For Answers In Ancient Ice
Back in July I spent 9 days and (at that latitude) no nights at the top of the world. Scientists from over a dozen nations made history by recovering the oldest ice ever obtained from Greenland. Year after year the snow piles up in Greenland, and as it gets buried and compressed it eventually forms a hard clear ice. That ice is 2 km thick across most of Greenland. It’s …
9 September 2010
Climate Science At The Top Of The World – Part One
I love ice and snow and I have had a lifetime’s dose of it this year. January saw me set foot at the South Pole and in late July, I found myself at the top of the world. Antarctica was thanks to the National Science Foundation. Greenland was thanks to Dave Jones at Storm Center Communications. Some of the most critical and urgent science in the world right now is …
7 September 2010
Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Second Lowest Level On Record
The melt season is just about over North of 60 and the NSIDC announced today that the surface ice coverage is now the second lowest on record. Keep in mind that the more important figure to watch is the overall volume of sea ice. Those numbers continue to show a precipitous decline… Welcome to the new normal… UPDATE: The ice drop has accelerated over the past two days. Mark Serreze …
3 September 2010
Science Journalist Lee Hotz Talks About Antarctica and Climate
My trip to Antarctica last January was an amazing adventure but not just for what I saw and experienced. The people I met and those selected to go like I was made it unforgettable. One of those people was Lee Hotz of the wall Street Journal. He has been a science journalist for many years. This was not his first trip to the ice, but it would be his first …
27 August 2010
Northwest Passage Opens (4th consecutive year)
Meteorologist Jeff Masters has a lot more about it, but the NW Passage is now mainly free of ice and is navigable. You can see a cool 30 day animation of the melt here. It looks like the NE Passage from Europe to Alaska is almost free as well. Masters says this is the 4th consecutive year that the passage has opened. It’s also the 4th time in recorded history. …
4 August 2010
Arctic Ocean Ice cover drops to 2nd lowest July level on Record.
The Arctic sea ice level dropped to the second lowest July levels on record last month. The data record goes back to about 1978. That’s when reliable satellite based measurements began. The lowest amount on record was on 16 September in 2007. Will we set an all time low record this year. Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado are thinking that we likely will not. …
31 July 2010
Oldest Greenland Ice Core Recovered
I’ve just returned today from Greenland and am looking forward to seeing my first “night” in 10 days! The 14 countries that have supported the NEEM ice core project got their money’s worth this week. The two year project to drill an ice core through 2,500 meters of ice finally reached Greenland rock. Where Is It The NEEM site is at 8,300 feet on top of the ice sheet. I arrived …
20 July 2010
North of 60 Again- Greetings from Greenland!
Well I have made it back to Greenland and the Arctic. Seven months and 8 days ago I was at the South Pole. This morning I wake up 60 miles on the cold side of the Arctic Circle. If the weather holds, and that is iffy, the NY 109th Air Guard will land us on a ski equipped LC130 at NEEM around 11am. I will then be just around 700 …
14 July 2010
Ice Core at NEEM Approaching Greenland Bedrock
While the lower 48 bakes this summer, a group of 30 researchers are drilling a big hole in the ice at the top of the world. It’s all in the name of science. The North Greenland Eemian ice core project is not the first ice core to be drilled through the Greenland icecap. It may be the most important though. Rewriting Earth’s Climate History Earlier cores have rewritten the climate …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.