On Feb 28, 10:58*am, RedAcer wrote:
On 28/02/12 15:50, SunDancer wrote:
From the You-Couldn't-Make-it-Up department:
Freezing winters ahead due to melting Arctic Sea ice
-----------------------------------------------------
Britain faces years of freezing winters because global warming is
causing Arctic Sea ice to melt, researchers have found.
b0Nk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...9106/Freezing-
winters-a...
Please read about the actual science not an extreme right-wing
denier
newspaper like the Telegraph.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0227111052.htm
Unusual Weather: Arctic Sea Ice Decline May Be Driving Snowy
Winters
Seen in Recent Years in N. Hemisphere
ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2012) — A new study led by the Georgia
Institute
of Technology provides further evidence of a relationship between
melting ice in the Arctic regions and widespread cold outbreaks in
the
Northern Hemisphere. The study's findings could be used to improve
seasonal forecasting of snow and temperature anomalies across
northern
continents.
Since the level of Arctic sea ice set a new record low in 2007,
significantly above-normal winter snow cover has been seen in large
parts of the northern United States, northwestern and central
Europe,
and northern and central China. During the winters of 2009-2010 and
2010-2011, the Northern Hemisphere measured its second and third
largest
snow cover levels on record.
"Our study demonstrates that the decrease in Arctic sea ice area is
linked to changes in the winter Northern Hemisphere atmospheric
circulation," said Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. "The circulation changes
result in
more frequent episodes of atmospheric blocking patterns, which lead
to
increased cold surges and snow over large parts of the northern
continents."
The study was published on Feb. 27, 2012 in the online early
edition of
the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In this study, scientists from Georgia Tech, the Chinese Academy of
Sciences and Columbia University expanded on previous research by
combining observational data and model simulations to explore the
link
between unusually large snowfall amounts in the Northern Hemisphere
in
recent winters and diminishing Arctic sea ice.
The researchers analyzed observational data collected between 1979
and
2010 and found that a decrease in autumn Arctic sea ice of 1
million
square kilometers -- the size of the surface area of Egypt --
corresponded to significantly above-normal winter snow cover in
large
parts of the northern United States, northwestern and central
Europe,
and northern and central China.
The analysis revealed two major factors that could be contributing
to
the unusually large snowfall in recent winters -- changes in
atmospheric
circulation and changes in atmospheric water vapor content -- which
are
both linked to diminishing Arctic sea ice. Strong warming in the
Arctic
through the late summer and autumn appears to be enhancing the
melting
of sea ice.
"We think the recent snowy winters could be caused by the
retreating
Arctic ice altering atmospheric circulation patterns by weakening
westerly winds, increasing the amplitude of the jet stream and
increasing the amount of moisture in the atmosphere," explained
Jiping
Liu, a senior research scientist in the School of Earth and
Atmospheric
Sciences at Georgia Tech. "These pattern changes enhance blocking
patterns that favor more frequent movement of cold air masses to
middle
and lower latitudes, leading to increased heavy snowfall in Europe
and
the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States."
Diminishing Arctic sea ice can cause changes in atmospheric
circulation
that lead to a circulation pattern that is different than the
"negative
phase" of the Arctic Oscillation.
In addition to analyzing observational data, the researchers also
assessed the impact of the diminishing Arctic sea ice on
atmospheric
circulation by comparing the results of model simulations run with
different sea ice distribution. They ran one experiment that
assumed
seasonally varying Arctic sea ice and utilized sea ice
concentration
data collected between 1979 and 2010. Another simulation
incorporated
prescribed sea ice loss in autumn and winter based on satellite-
derived
Arctic sea ice concentrations.
The simulations showed that diminishing Arctic sea ice induced a
significant surface warming in the Arctic Ocean and
Greenland/northeastern Canada, and cooling over northern North
America,
Europe, Siberia and eastern Asia. The models also showed above-
normal
winter snowfall in large parts of the northern United States,
central
Europe, and northern and central China.
The consistent relationships seen in the model simulations and
observational data illustrate that the rapid loss of sea ice in
summer
and delayed recovery of sea ice in autumn modulates snow cover,
winter
temperature and the frequency of cold air outbreaks in northern
mid-latitudes.
Huijun Wang and Mirong Song of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Institute
of Atmospheric Physics and Radley Horton from the Columbia
University
Center for Climate Systems Research also contributed to this work.
This project was supported by the NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study
and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No. ANT-0838920).
ø Model simulations are just play toys for big boys.
* *Global climates deal in multi thousand years and
* *the government scientists like Hansen, Trenberth,
* *and their ilk only deal in the shortest terms and
* *coopt CO2 as the scapegoat contradicting John
* *Tyndall.
* *The warm Industrial Age (which was not so
* *warm, certainly not as warm as the Mediaeval
* *Warm Period) has been superceded by a
* *cooling period anticipated to be colder than
* *before in the 1,600 year trend toward
* *reglaciation.
* *The AGW et al and other government agencies
* *have diddled around forecasting effects
* *predicated on increased co2 warming the world,
* *and sea levels rising monumentally. Co2 has no
* *thermal effect and the sea levels are not rising.
* *If any of you fools out there want to learn some
* *thing get the papers of the late Genvieve
* *Woillard. Evleth tried to demean her work
* *calling her a botanist because she used pollens
* *for carbon dating.