{"id":366543,"date":"2025-02-17T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T09:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366543"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T09:00:13","slug":"the-great-antarctic-sea-ice-flipflop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366543","title":{"rendered":"The Great Antarctic Sea Ice Flipflop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014 NOAA blamed record high sea ice on global warming. Now NSIDC blames record low sea ice on global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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World\u2019s sea-ice falls to record low<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Poynting and Erwan Rivault<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC Climate & Verify data journalism teams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s frozen oceans, which help to keep the planet cool, currently have less ice than ever previously recorded, satellite data shows.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Sea-ice around the north and south poles acts like a giant mirror by reflecting much of the Sun\u2019s energy back into space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as rising temperatures cause this bright layer to shrink, the dark ocean below can absorb more heat, warming the planet further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest sea-ice low appears to have been driven by a combination of warm air, warm seas and winds breaking apart the ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year, every data point that we get suggests that this isn\u2019t a temporary shift, but something more permanent<\/strong>, like what we\u2019ve seen in the Arctic,\u201d Walter Meier, senior research scientist at NSIDC, told BBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is indicating that the Antarctic has moved into a new regime of lower ice extents.<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cvgeydkz08go<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2014, melting glaciers making sea water less saline was blamed for record HIGH Antarctic sea ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antarctic winter sea ice extent sets new record in 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY MICHON SCOTT  REVIEWED BY TED SCAMBOS
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 7, 2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETAILS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not unreasonable to wonder how, if the planet is warming, Antarctic winter sea ice can set record highs.<\/strong> As the NSIDC release explains, Antarctica\u2019s sea ice growth spurt may be down to stronger winds and slightly fresher sea surface water around the margins of the continent\u2019s melting ice shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winds probably did not act alone to spur so much sea ice growth, melting land ice may have played a role.<\/strong>\u00a0Most of Antarctica\u2019s ice lies in the\u00a0ice sheets<\/a>\u00a0that cover the continent, and\u00a0in recent decades, that ice has been melting.<\/strong>\u00a0Along the coastline,\u00a0ice shelves<\/a>\u00a0float on the ocean surface, and much of the recent melt may be driven by warm water from the deep ocean rising and making contact with ice shelf undersides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does the melting of land ice matter to sea ice formation? The resulting meltwater is fresher than the seawater.<\/strong> As it mixes with the seawater, the meltwater makes the nearby seawater slightly less dense, and slightly closer to the freezing point than the ocean water below. This less dense seawater spreads out across the ocean surface surrounding the continent, forming a stable pool of surface water that is close to the freezing point, and close to the ice onto which it could freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u00a0as counterintuitive as expanding winter Antarctic Sea ice may appear on a warming planet,\u00a0it may actually be a manifestation of recent warming.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cBoth the Arctic and the Antarctic are responding to climate change, and both have areas that are warming rapidly,\u201d explains NSIDC lead scientist Ted Scambos. \u201cBut Antarctic Sea ice is responding to wind shifts and ocean changes in an unexpected way, and we\u2019re still trying to fully understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014 melt season in review<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melting in the North, freezing in the South<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.climate.gov\/news-features\/featured-images\/antarctic-winter-sea-ice-extent-sets-new-record-2014<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sea Ice scientists should come clean and admit they have no idea which direction sea ice will move next, instead of placing each way bet, and blaming any change on global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is plenty of evidence Antarctic sea ice has varied wildly for at least the last century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, the \u201cSpirit of Mawson\u201d<\/a> Ship of Fools expedition got stuck in sea ice, while trying to relive a small part of Mawson\u2019s Antarctic adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saving the Antarctic scientists, er media, er, activists, er tourists trapped by sea ice<\/a><\/blockquote>