Antarctic Climate Research Expedition Trapped In Sea Ice

First time accepted submitter Stinky Cheese Man writes "An Antarctic climate research expedition, led by climate researcher Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales, has become trapped in heavy ice near the coast of Antarctica. The captain has issued a distress call and three nearby icebreaker ships are on their way to the rescue. According to Turney's web site, the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.'"

Comments

Mission accomplished

[roc97007]

> the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.

Looks like they found some.

Re:Mission accomplished

[riverat1]

The story itself has nothing to do with global warming nor even the increase in Antarctic sea ice. It's about a ship that got caught by shifting winds closing existing ice around it and trapping it which is possible with nearly any amount of sea ice in the vicinity. But it was a sure thing that global warming would come into the conversation.

Re:Mission accomplished

[riverat1]

One interesting fact about Antarctica is that the sea ice essentially melts out completely every year so there is no carry over from one year to the next like there is in the Arctic.

I have to admit I was a bit wrong on this. I've been saying that for a while and decided to check on it. I downloaded the monthly mean sea ice extent and area from the NSIDC*. The data covered from November 1978 to November 2013. The Antarctic sea ice minimum monthly extent always occurs in February and is around 3 million miles^2 varying mostly from about 2.5-3.5. The Antarctic sea ice maximum always occurs in September and is around 19 M mi^2 varying mostly from about 18.5-19.25 except it was a record 19.77 last September.

So I was wrong that it melts out completely but it drops around 85% every year. In my defense that may be valid for some values of "essentially melts out completely". ) The remaining sea ice is mainly in the Weddell Sea (about half of it according to the Mk. 1 eyeball) which is protected from the prevailing currents and winds by the Antarctic Peninsula and along the Western Antarctic coast which is further south than most of the continent. One other interesting thing I discovered was that the sea ice extent drops precipitously from November to January every year from around 16.5 M mi^2 to around 5 M mi^2.

I could do the area too but I've already spent too long on this research so I'll leave it there but it was fun.

* Data cite: Fetterer, F., K. Knowles, W. Meier, and M. Savoie. 2002, updated 2009. Sea Ice Index. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5QJ7F7W.

Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarctic

[mc6809e]

There's about 1.53 million more square km of ice than what is usual.

This Article is Denialist Propaganda

[CajunArson]

Anyone who would insinuate that there is any ice left anywhere on Earth after Global Warming must be an anti-science denialist and must be purged in the name of tolerance.

Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc

[djmurdoch]

The GP posted a statement of fact, relevant to the story. Doesn't sound like a denialist to me.

That sword cuts both ways buddy

[SuperKendall]

what it does prove is the complete intellecutual bankruptcy of the deniers

You AGW cultists are a real trip. When you say there will be less sea ice before you say there will be more, it means that the scientists arguing against your beliefs are the ones in intellectual bankruptcy?

Have the stones to admit you don't actually understand what you thought you did. But then, a real cultist will die before undergoing change to deeply held beliefs...

Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc

[JWW]

Your post is unbelievable.

The GP poster posted a subject of:

Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarctic

And then they posted a LINK to a graph that proved their subject.

THIS IS ALL THEY POSTED!! No follow on sentences about global warming. No links to any other sites about global warming or to sites denying global warming for that matter.

The post stated only facts, and made no arguments. Facts that seem to be backed up by the research vessel being stuck in the ice.

YOU brought global warming into the discussion, YOU called the GP poster a denier (note: I am speaking only to evidence in the GP post, if mc6809e is a raging denier elsewhere I don't know it).

This isn't really cherry picking of data, it is only presentation of data.

If there is an increase in antarctic summer ice at the same time there is a decrease in arctic summer ice, we should study what is happening.

There really wasn't a global warming argument being made in the GP. You just saw one there. Check your glasses.

Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc

[Beeftopia]

mc6809e wrote:
There's about 1.53 million more square km of ice than what is usual.

Ol Olsoc wrote:
allow me to post the rest: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/

mc6809e noted that in the SOUTHERN hemisphere, there is a +1.53 million square km ice anomaly.

However, in the follow-on post, it shows that in the NORTHERN hemisphere, there is a -0.63 million square km ice anomaly.

So, +1.53 - 0.63 = +0.9 net global ice difference over the past 3 years. And this is relative to the mean from 1978-2008.

Personally, it does make sense to me that there is AGW, but these graphs indicate a net global sea ice increase over the past 3 years. Is it the last word in the discussion? No, but it is an interesting data point.