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Arctic Sea Ice Recovering? Think Again

Sep 17, 2010; 2:43 PM ET

Is Arctic sea ice recovering? No.

I guess if you just cherry-picked the seasonal ice extent minimums from 2007, 2008 and 2010, then you would come to the conclusion that the Arctic sea ice in terms of extent was recovering, but scientifically it does not work that way.

Image courtesy of the NSIDC.

Thanks to our global warming forum here on AccuWeather.com, I was able to find this good article from Postmedia News, via The Vancouver Sun from last week.

The article discusses this year's annual melt season across the Arctic, but we also get some strong quotes from ice expert Mark Serreze, the Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center or NSIDC.......

"There are claims coming from some communities that the Arctic sea ice is recovering, is getting thicker again," Mark Serreze, director of the Colorado-based centre, told Postmedia News on Wednesday.

"That's simply not the case. It's continuing down in a death spiral," said Serreze.

Serreze said this year's retreat offers further evidence of the "overall downward trend" but only tells half the story of the declining Arctic ice cover.

Mark Serreze. Image courtesy of the NSIDC.

Scientists have also determined that along with the overall shrinkage in ice area, the polar region's oldest and thickest slabs are increasingly being replaced by younger and thinner ice -- a phenomenon that's widely expected to result in ice-free Arctic summers in the coming years, according to the Vancouver Sun.

"Every bit of evidence we have says the ice is thinning," said Serreze.

Sea ice trends, Serreze cautioned, will continue to be affected by natural variations in temperature and wind patterns throughout the circumpolar world.

But Serreze said the overall pattern is unmistakable: "The decline in the extent of ice -- the square kilometres -- is being attended by a decrease in the volume of ice."

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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Global Climate Change
In the AccuWeather.com Climate Change Blog, you will find links to the latest research, commentary by experts with various points of view on all aspects of Global Warming and Global Cooling.