arctic
illconsidered | October 3, 2007Arctic sea ice dropped to a record low in 2007, surpassing by a very striking margin (twenty four percent!) the previous record of two years ago.
Record Arctic Sea Ice Loss in 2007
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Large images
Arctic, September 16, 2007 (1.3 MB JPG)
Graph of Arctic Sea Ice Decline (200 KB PDF)
This record is about the sea ice extent, or the area of ocean surface covered by ice, and does not even reflect the ice loss due to thinning of the ice pack. Factoring this thinning (up to 40% by some estimates) makes a dramatic observation even more foreboding…
zooillogix | May 21, 2007The Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity Project (ANDEEP) has been working on an unprecedented project to document marine life near the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean. 80% of the isopods identified are entirely new species. Another species, foraminifera, single celled organisms with decorative shells, have also been identified in the waters beneath the North Pole. It is astonishing that these tiny creatures could find their way to the opposite sides of the earth, traveling through dramatically different environments along the way. "What was once thought to be a featureless abyss, is in fact…
zooillogix | May 8, 2007In a sad follow up to the story posted this morning, Hope, the bearded seal who swam all the way from the Arctic to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, died at Sea World this afternoon. Scientists do not yet know his exact cause of death, but he was significantly dehydrated, malnourished and exhausted when he was captured.
illconsidered | June 27, 2006This is just one of dozens of responses to common climate change denial arguments, which can all be found at How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.
Objection:
According to the latest state of the art satellite measurements from over the Arctic, sea levels are falling! Guess all that ice isn't melting after all.
Answer:
Yes, a new study using Europe's Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite has determined that over the last ten years, sea level in the Arctic ocean has been falling at an average rate of around 2mm/year. This is very new and very interesting news, though it is preliminary and not published…