How The Arctic ICE MELTED.

http://ecosyn.us/Temp_4/Arctic_Ice_Melt.html

Some sample news stories which describe various aspects of the problem
followed by visual tutorial of the heat dynamics doing the damage.


Satellite images taken in August a year apart show unusually low
concentrations of ice (yellow and green areas). British Isles outline
indicates scale. Photo: ESA

STORY LINKS:

* Unprecedented melting of Arctic September 23, 2006
* Arctic ocean warms as global oceans cool -- September 26, 2006
* Arctic Ice Melt Leaves Openings Larger Than British Isles -- September 22, 2006
* Arctic ice melt alarms climate researchers -- September 14, 2006
* European Scientists Stunned by Arctic Ice Melt -- September 20, 2006

Arctic Sea Ice News 2006 (for more detailed descriptions).

Figure 1: Sea ice extent for September 18, 2006
Graphic showing current sea ice compared to Sept average

Current sea ice conditions: September 18, 2006

As compared to the last report, the polynya in the Beaufort Sea has opened
(Figure 1).

Some areas of the ocean show evidence of new ice formation as autumn
cooling begins to take hold. However, at the same time, some areas south
of the polynya that were formerly ice covered have continued to melt out.
Total Arctic sea ice extent has declined slightly as compared to the last
report, but we are probably close to the turning point in the season.

White indicates areas where sea ice is present. Areas in blue are open
ocean, while gray indicates land masses. The pink line shows the average
ice extent for September, the end of the summer melt season. The September
average is calculated from 1979 through 2000.


http://ecosyn.us/Temp_4/Arctic_Ice_Melt.html
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED:

Told in four graphic intensive pages, 120 days of satellite images capture
the events of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Alaska, as tropical clouds
are swirled into the Arctic.

Click picture to access page. June 8-9th, 2006, one hour intervals.
Thumbnails reduced size access full sized single images. Thumbnail page
582 kbytes, available data pictures total 5.3 megabyes.

Click picture to access page. Two hurricanes active near equator. August
24-26th two-hourly intervals. Thumbnail page 236 kbytes, available data
pictures total 4.7 megabyes.

Click picture to access page. May 29, 2006 to September 25, 2006, 24-hour
intervals. Approximately zero-hour UTC, Zulu Time. Images are sliced
horizontally discarding lower 2/3rds. Thumbnails reduced 50%. See below
samples for image manipulation details. Thumbnail page 1.7 megabytes,
available data pictures total 8.7 megabyes.

Click picture to access page. May 29, 2006 to September 25, 2006, 24-hour
intervals. Approximately zero-hour UTC, Zulu Time. Images are sliced
horizontally discarding lower 2/3rds. Then cropped to remove left and
right. Remaining image is not reduced from original scale. Available data
pictures total 4.2 megabyes.


This is a typical image taken every half hour day and night. This infrared
enhancement is named rainbow color. The data files do not have the
latitude and longitude lines on them but it helps here to show you the
area of coverage from this satellite viewpoint.

The area of concern is top center. Alaska and above 50 degrees latitude is
the area of interest. Here a large cloud mass containing latent heat is
found south of Alaska. This is a remnant of Typhoon Yagi and still
contains some counter-clockwise spin shoving warmer air north into and
over Alaska on this date. Below is a slice from the same image. Below that
is the reduced size and the non-reduced but cropped left and right sides
version of the same data to focus only on Alaska and the Far Northern
latitudes.