Oh dear, poor old Flannery and Gore along with all their scam artist mates must be apoplectic over this news. I guess theyll be telling us global warming is to blame. LOL #auspol #BSWNBPM #ClimateCouncil -ANTARCTIC sea ice has expanded to its greatest coverage since records began in 1978, continuing to confound climate scientists and proving even more hazardous than usual for shipping in the Southern Ocean. The three-year, record-breaking run continued as the sea ice cover in the region hit 19.619 million square kilometres on Friday, more than two weeks ahead of last year’s October 1 record of 19.607 million. The coverage is roughly 2½ times the size of the Australian continent. The data, which is kept by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre and analysed by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre in Hobart, shows the ice has been growing at an average of 1.5 per cent each decade. “It is telling us we need to know much more about sea ice than we think we know already,” Hobart research centre marine glaciologist Jan Lieser told The Australian. “I suspect the record reached on Friday will not even be the record for 2014, it has some growing to do in the next couple of weeks.” Dr Lieser said the “growth and decay” of the Antarctic was one of the biggest, potentially the biggest, naturally occurring events in the world. It has long been considered a climate paradox because, as it grows, sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking. The prevailing hypothesis is that winds in the Antarctic have strengthened as a result of global temperature gradients changing. Winds play a major role in the formation of sea ice. “Sea ice is very much a product of its local environment and is not just driven by temperature but (also) ocean currents and winds,” Dr Lieser said. “We know the wind speed and storminess of the Antarctic has increased as a result of a changing climate. “Crucially, while sea ice is expanding in the Southern Ocean we know the Antarctic continent itself is losing ice mass at a rapid pace. Whether that loss is contributing to the extra sea ice we do not know but it is something we must look at.” Although submarines were able during the Cold War to collect useful surveys of the thickness of Arctic ice, no such record of volume exists for Antarctic sea ice. The coverage may have spread but it may also be thinning. The Australian understands the growing ice mass will pose a significant challenge to shipping in the coming Antarctic summer, even to resupply missions conducted by the Aurora Australia. Last year, scientists were trapped in sea ice for more than a week aboard Russian research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy. They were finally helicoptered to safety aboard the Aurora Australis, which was unable to break through the ice to reach the boat. The Aurora Australis is due to leave Hobart on October 22 to resupply scientists at the Davis research station. A spokeswoman for the Australian Antarctic Division said the season was yet to begin and she did not have any comment about “potential impacts on the Aurora resupply”.- theaustralian.au/national-affairs/climate/record-expansion-sees-antarctic-sea-ice-confound-climate-scientists/story-e6frg6xf-1227058298989
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 20:27:47 +0000
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