The Wonk Room

Spin Watch: Arctic Sea Ice»

AFP quotes a NASA scientist on the rebound of Arctic sea ice due to this year’s relatively cold winter:

“It could be compared to a building in a movie: it looks OK, you see a building, but in fact it’s a set, and behind the facade there is nothing.”

– Walter Meier, National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: NASA researchers yesterday released analysis of satellite microwave telemetry of Arctic sea ice that shows increased ice cover due to the cold winter, but a record low in perennial ice. Even with the 3.9% increase in cover over last year, overall sea ice extent is still down 2.2% from the long-term average. The perennial ice that used to cover over 50% of the Arctic is down to less than 30%, and ice that has existed for at least six years has declined from over 20% coverage to just six percent. The latest IPCC report, based on data and models from before 2005, estimates an ice-free summer Arctic Ocean no sooner than 2050. However, researchers are now saying this catastrophic climate change may happen in less than five years.

Source: Nature’s The Great Beyond