Commenter Steve Bloom always links to interesting stuff (if the new spam filter system lets him). This time it's about an article on the ITV website (and in the sensationalist Daily Mail) that links Arctic warming and sea ice loss to the late outburst of weird winter weather in the UK and the rest of Europe. This comes after a Chinese scientist linking extreme cold and snow to Arctic sea ice loss, and fake skeptics casually remarking that all the extra snow on the Northern Hemisphere (resulting in hundreds of victims) was due to "a record low amount of Arctic sea ice". And then there was Sandy's weird 90° curve to the left.
All in all it has been an decent harvest of winter weirdness events, and if the coming melting season is anything like the last one, it will be interesting to see if it's followed by more of the same extremeness. Because enquiring minds want to know. Society wants to know, or should want to know, if there's a link with Arctic sea ice loss.
Met Office investigating Arctic link
to record low temperatures in UK
A cyclist braves the snow near Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales in March 2013 Photo: John Giles/PA Wire
After some of the coldest temperatures in almost 100 years, the Met Office says it is "urgent" that we address the causes of our changing weather and the possibility that recent record melts in the Arctic are to blame.
The forecaster's top scientist, Dr Julia Slingo, has told ITV News that she will convene a meeting of top experts from around the world to look into this.
New figures out today show the temperature dropped to -11.2C in Aberdeenshire on April 2 - the lowest April temperature recorded nationally for almost a century. It follows the coldest March since 1962.
Some scientists believe that rapid warming in the Arctic, which saw sea ice shrink to its lowest ever level last September, could be influencing our weather in the UK.
ITV News' Science Editor Lawrence McGinty reports:
Go read the rest of the article and watch some interesting videos here. Also watch the short interview with Jennifer Francis here.
I think it bears repeating that I'm not saying that all of these weird weather events - you know, the really weird, extreme stuff, not every freezing temperature or random snowfall - are 100% certain to be caused by Arctic sea ice loss. But this is something we want to know, right? Or shouldn't this be looked into? If you want to deny the possibility that the extreme loss of Arctic sea ice could have a negative influence on Northern Hemisphere weather patterns, you will have to answer the question: How could it not? Good luck with that.
Again, not saying it's 100% certain, but definitely not ruling it out either.
We want to know.
@Remko Kampen
I am interested in getting your opinion on the impact of the 60 odd ships that crossed the Arctic (north-east passage) last summer in relation to sea ice regrowth.
Assuming the Arctic is completely clear of sea ice near the end of summer melt this year (or within a few years), there will be an almost instantaneous massive increase in shipping traffic across the whole region. Presumably, that traffic will cause large water mixing and delay the onset of winter freeze-up. How large do you think these feedback's will be?
I would guess that when there is zero sea ice in the Arctic for a month or so we will literally see many 1000s of ships crossing...
Posted by: Paul Beckwith | May 10, 2013 at 04:04
The Mauna Loa weekly CO2 data is being shown as daily values at the moment, as the first 400ppm value seems to be imminent.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html
Posted by: Derek | May 10, 2013 at 09:04
Paul, ship numbers won't jump from 60 to 1000s within a year or two. and even if they did, you know how big the Arctic Ocean is. the mixing due to shipping, compared to the mixing due to wind/wave etc action, will be somewhere between negligible and nonexistent
Posted by: sofouuk | May 10, 2013 at 13:03