On 15/06/2017 17:08, JohnD wrote:
See that there's some speculation that we might be heading for the
lowest sea ice extent _maximum_ in the recent record (at least as far as
the first (July) max of the year is concerned - last year the second
(Nov) max was no greater than the first). See eg:

https://sites.google.com/site/arctis...t_byyear_b.png



I read this piece today
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...m-temperatures

Wednesday 14 June 2017 10.00 BST Last modified on Wednesday 14 June 2017
22.00 BST

Scientists in Canada have been forced to abandon an expedition to the
Hudson Bay to research the impact of climate change, after warming
temperatures created perilous ice conditions off the coast of Newfoundland.

In late May, 40 scientists from five Canadian universities set off from
Quebec City on the icebreaker and Arctic research vessel CCGS Amundsen.
The expedition was the first leg of a four-year, C$17m research project
designed to delve into the effects of climate change on Hudson Bay.
Cold snap: massive iceberg just off coast draws Canadians eager for close-up

The icebreaker was soon diverted. Dense ice – up to 8 metres (25ft)
thick – had filled the waters off the northern coast of Newfoundland,
trapping fishing boats and ferries.

“It was a really dramatic situation,” said David Barber, the
expedition’s chief scientist. “We were getting search and rescue calls
from fishing boats that were stranded in the ice and tankers that were
stranded trying to get fuel into the communities. Nobody could manage
this ice because it was far too heavy to get through.”

Barber, a climate change scientist at the University of Manitoba, and
the other scientists did what they could to help the Coast Guard rescue
the vessels and carved a path for the tankers. They also took the time
to study the ice that surrounded them, discovering that much of it was
the multiyear ice typically seen in the high Arctic.

It was an unexpected find, said Barber, given the time of year and how
far south they were. “It’s not something you would expect to see there
and not something we’ve seen there before,” he said. “In the high
Arctic, climate change is causing the ice to get thinner and there to be
less of it. What that does is that it increases the mobility of ice.”

The decision to cancel the first leg of the expedition was made after it
became clear that continuing north would interrupt search and rescue
operations and probably put lives at risk.
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The irony was not lost on Barber. “We’re doing a large-scale climate
change study and before we can even get going on it, climate change is
conspiring to force us to cancel that study.”

The decision was a costly one, as the project had already spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars getting the scientists and their gear on the
vessel. The next leg of the expedition, scheduled to start on 6 July, is
expected to go ahead, but the study will probably need to be extended by
at least six months and may require more funding, he said. “It’s a real
mess.”

Barber – who has spent decades researching the impact of climate change
on sea ice – described his week spent on the frontlines of battling a
changing climate as a stark reminder of the reality the world is facing.
“We’re very poorly prepared for climate change,” he said. “We pay lip
service to the fact that we think we know it’s coming and society is
trying to grapple with the complexity of it, but when it really comes
down to brass tacks, our systems are ill prepared for it.”