National Ice Center - Cracks Extending Hundreds Of Miles Through High Arctic East Sector

[hatrack]

You'll notice them here just to the left of the Pole - the feature marked "A" on the PDF:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Hi_East/2008/currentcolor.pdf

Similar features present in High Arctic West 2 - they're at about the 3:30 - 4:00 on this map, here marked as "A" and "B":
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/West_Arctic/Hi_West/hi_West_two/2008/currentcolor.pdf

High Arctic West 1 - similar, smaller complex of cracks here appearing near the center of the survey area:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/West_Arctic/Hi_West/Hi_West_One/2008/currentcolor.pdf

Barents Sea NE - Substantial opening beginning north of Franz Josef Land:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Barents_Sea/Barents_Sea_North/2008/Northeast/currentcolor.pdf

Barents Sea NW - Svalbard picture largely unchanged from last week:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Barents_Sea/Barents_Sea_North/2008/Northwest/currentcolor.pdf

Still waiting for updates on Davis Strait, Baffin Bay.

[NickB79]

1. A part of me hopes the Arctic will completely collapse this year

Frankly, I think that a massive, rapid collapse is the only thing that will get people off their asses and finally make a coherent attempt to slow the damage.

As it is now, we're dying a death by a thousand cuts: a glacier melting here, a farm drying out there, but not enough people have put them all together in their minds for the realization to sink in.

[Zachstar]

2. We are WAYYY past that point.

Because even if we stop China wont. And we have no right to tell them otherwise.

Saving Earth will require active CO2 from the atmosphere.

[XemaSab]

4. The irony of that

is that the plane has to crash before the NTSB realizes there's a problem.

Once the wings are off the thing, we're already totally screwed, and a nationwide grounding isn't going to help.

[garybeck]

10. The only thing that will get people to really change is

MONEY.

When gas costs $6 per gallon, then people will change. Until then we're dealing with 10% of the population who gives a shit, which is nice, but not enough. That's been my experience dealing in the solar energy industry for the last 20 years.

[XemaSab]

3. The ice amount has been bouncing around for a couple weeks now

Hudson Bay and the Bering Strait are still all iced in.

It's early days.

The ice hasn't started melting for real yet.

[truebrit71]

5. I hate to be an idiot...but could someone explain to a rookie what I'm looking at and what i should

..be looking for?

I love having access to this type of raw data...I just need a hand in interpreting it correctly...

[hatrack]

6. Actually, these links are time-sensitive and shift with each new update

The maps the original post referred are for a few weeks back - May 22nd, to be precise - and can be found here:

High East Arctic - look for the long, yellow lines running across the map:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Hi_East/2008/hiea080519color.pdf

High Arctic West 2:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/West_Arctic/Hi_West/Hi_West_two/2008/hiw2080519color.pdf

High Arctic West 1:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/West_Arctic/Hi_West/Hi_West_One/2008/hiw1080519color.pdf

Barents NE:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Barents_Sea/Barents_Sea_North/2008/northeast/barne080519color.pdf

Barents NW:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/East_Arctic/Barents_Sea/Barents_Sea_North/2008/northwest/barnw080519color.pdf

[XemaSab]

7. What do the numbers in the ovals mean?

These are hard to interpret. :(

[hatrack]

8. The top numbers designate ice coverage by decile - 7-9 = 7 to 9/10ths

In total, the oval symbols are known as the "Egg Code" for short, and from top to bottom are read as:

Total Concentration

Partial Concentration

Stage of Development

Predominant form of ice

Stage of development of remaining ice types (numbers on either side of the egg)

More complete information here at:

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/egg_code/index.html

[XemaSab]

9. Ah thanks

:)

[truebrit71]

11. Thanks!

:hi: