Satellite reveals major loss of Arctic sea ice (pictures)

[struggle4progress]

Using new data from the European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite spanning 10 years, an international team of scientists has discovered an alarming rate of loss for the Arctic sea ice. Satellites whose mission is to closely watch variations in the coverage and thickness of polar ice show the volume of Arctic sea ice declined an astounding 36 percent during autumn and 9 percent during winter between 2003 and 2012.

The past six years have seen the lowest summer ice extent in three decades, according to the international team of scientists led by University College London, reaching the lowest levels last September at about 3.61 million square kilometers.

To measure the volume of Arctic ice, CryoSat's radar altimeter beams pulses of microwave energy towards the ice, bouncing waves off both the top sections of ice and through the cracks to the water below. The difference in height between these two surfaces allows scientists to calculate the "freeboard" -- the height of ice above the water -- and, as a result, the volume of the ice coverage ...

http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10015751.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R! Yikes! How can anyone, anywhere possibly overlook this?!

[longship]

2. It's all about the albedo!

The amount of solar energy reflected into space. Ice reflects a whole lot. Open water absorbs a lot. When the northern ice cap collapses -- it looks like it will at this time -- global warming will click into a new level, promoting warmer Arctic seas which are a driving force for many bad things.

Warmer seas have more volume, which means higher sea levels everywhere. Good bye to many island nations. Warmer seas promote melting of ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica, which directly result in even more sea level rise.

This isn't going to end well. Much of the world's economic centers are coastal cities. We've already seen what can happen, cough! Sandy!

Meanwhile, the Republicans are doing what? And the Democrats are not far behind them.

What will it take before these people realize that we have now pushed the planet's environment into uncharted territory. If they are worried about their money, they should be worried about this.

[defacto7]

3. Big K&R