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State of the Doomion
Oct. 18th, 2009 08:12 pmBoth NOAA and NASA rate September's global temperatures as the second-hottest on record, narrowly missing the 2005 peak (by well under a tenth of a degree). Meanwhile, a first look at the data from Pen Hadow's arctic ice survey - the Catlin Ice Survey - show that ice is thinner than expected, bringing the ice-free Summer Arctic forward from around 2050-ish to around 2030-ish.
You'll get to see it.
Thin ice means ice that has formed this year. It's relatively flimsy and breaks up in heavy weather, and broken ice melts faster. Hadow's team got the data by walking across the ice with an auger, drilling holes, and measuring how far down the water was. Pretty hands-on stuff. This was married up to the satellite data, allowing better calibration of ice-sensing kit (mostly radar, IIRC). The spiffy radar sled they were supposed to be using broke down at the start, which is why they had to go oldschool.
I think even the dimmest bastard out there can grasp the technique here: Drill a hole, plunge a stick into it, and say "holy fucking shit". Repeat a couple thousand times.
(Polar data is available for all, at the Polar Data Catalog)
You'll get to see it.
Thin ice means ice that has formed this year. It's relatively flimsy and breaks up in heavy weather, and broken ice melts faster. Hadow's team got the data by walking across the ice with an auger, drilling holes, and measuring how far down the water was. Pretty hands-on stuff. This was married up to the satellite data, allowing better calibration of ice-sensing kit (mostly radar, IIRC). The spiffy radar sled they were supposed to be using broke down at the start, which is why they had to go oldschool.
I think even the dimmest bastard out there can grasp the technique here: Drill a hole, plunge a stick into it, and say "holy fucking shit". Repeat a couple thousand times.
(Polar data is available for all, at the Polar Data Catalog)
