Image Source: Ottawa University
Nearly one-million square miles of more ice has frozen at the North Pole this year compared with the same time last year.
The question is… Is an increase of 60% more ice in 1 year a sign of things to come?
2013 Artic sea ice is up 60% from last year, while 2012 Arctic ice was at record lows.
An ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia’s northern shores.
“The Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific has remained blocked by pack-ice all year…more than 20 yachts that had planned to sail it have been left ice-bound and a cruise ship attempting the route was forced to turn back,” according to a September report from dailymail.co.uk
Arctic sea ice averaged 2.35 million square miles in August 2013, as compared to the low point of 1.32 million square miles recorded on Sept. 16, 2012, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. A chart published Sept. 8 by NSIDC shows the dramatic rise this year, while they did note that the growth in ice was still below the 30-year average.
The following NASA images show the Arctic ice sheet in August 2012 and again in 2013.
Image: NASA – NSIDC
Image: NASA – NSIDC
Are we now in a cooling trend? And if so, why? Or is this simply an anomaly?
How about this for an idea…
…the shockingly dismal solar sunspot cycle which has been so low/inactive during the present peak period, that some say it is similar to what has preceded previous cool-down periods and even ice ages. Or is this too an anomaly?
Image: NOAA
Image: SOHO
A solar pole reversal is underway, signifying an apparent peak in the solar cycle…
For the current solar cycle 24, the reversal on the Sun’s north pole has been going on now…with positive and negative polarities alternating each other. It seems that only right now, the reversal on the north pole has become permanent…The reversal at the south pole seems to have only just begun. Therefore, a complete reversal still seems quite a few months away.
-Royal Observatory of Belgium (mid-2013)
And there’s this…
The Maunder Minimum (also known as the prolonged sunspot minimum) is the name used for the period starting in about 1645 and continuing to about 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time.
The Maunder Minimum coincided with the “the Little Ice Age”, during which Europe and North America were subjected to bitterly cold winters.
Are we heading into a cold period? A cooling trend? Or worse?
Only time will tell…
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And this is just the Arctic ice sheet. Take a look at the Antarctic ice, which has grown an enormous amount in recent years. As this solar cycle winds down, we’ll see much deeper and colder winters and significantly milder summers. AGW will be proven the myth that it is. I remember back in the seventies when everyone was talking up a new ice age.
I’ll bet Al Gore is crying in his beer right now. I wonder what the hell he’s going to do with all those carbon credits? When the SHTF, perhaps he can re-purpose it as toilet paper.
one year does not a trend make
I’m not gonna get in the middle of the global warming debate
I’d sooner argue about religion
Arctic sea ice rebounds, but don’t jump to ‘global cooling’ conclusions
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0910/Arctic-sea-ice-rebounds-but-don-t-jump-to-global-cooling-conclusions
one year does not a trend make
Agreed. I’ve posted this due to my curiosity regarding this very low activity solar cycle we’re in, and its possible relevance to earth’s climate. It may be nothing… but then again… there’s the ‘Maunder Minimum’…
“This time it’s different”
Sunspots sightings are just one proxy for gauging activity on the sun. There are many other readings that astrophysicists and solarphysicists measure when quantifying outlooks.
Unlike those activists possessing a science degree who are pushing an agenda and making outrageous alarming predictions, many of the true scientists are looking at the many solar readings and are at the stage of “PROPOSING” that there MAYBE a Maunder type minimum in our immediate future.
Their will be a meeting of many of the top solar scientists early in 2014 and will be interesting to hear their opinions.
NASA’a chief solar physicist made a prediction back in 2004 – 2007 concerning the size and probability of the current solar cycle 24. He based this on previous cycles and extrapolating the figures. He has since admitted that things didn’t go this way and has since corrected his forecasts. – A true scientific point of view.
There was a quiet period of solar activity for three cycles at the start of the twentieth century. However the readings for those cycles differ substantially from the current cycle.
Some of these scientists also find no real correlation between low solar cycle activity and cooler climate – at least no scientific correlation.
The Farmers Almanacs and lay observers point out otherwise.
It appears that the next cycle, – 25, will be a period of very low solar activity – but time will tell. Cycle 23 was very active – nothing pointed to the reality that cycle 24 would be so inactive.
I would rather listen to the opinions of respected scientists who question there own works, others theories and are prepared to change their minds when the situation changes compared to alarmist activists with some college degree with a wheelbarrow to push or those carpetbagging ex politicians with some fresh air to sell you.
One year doth not a trend make… but a trend has to start somewhere.
If you told the same alarmists five years ago that bought into the belief that the arctic would have been ice free by now that all of that ice could come back in a year, they would have dismissed you as a ‘denier’…
…Yet… that very thing just happened.
Ken,
While I agree that one year does not make a trend, i would posit that since the antarctic ice sheet has been growing for eight to ten years now, that perhaps may be a trend after all. The Arctic sheet is growing by leaps and bounds by all measures. In the Arctic, just a variation of a few degrees can exponentially affect ice growth, so we may indeed be witnessing a re-freezing of the north pole. One ancillary effect of all the additional ice is that it reflects far more of the suns rays right back in to space, meaning that the sea does not absorb nearly as mu7ch heat. I agree that “we shall see”, but remain in the “no such thing as anthropogenic global warming” group. I agree wholeheartedly that human activity has an impact, largely negative, on the planet, but given the sheer size of our atmosphere and the relatively short period of time we have been burning meaningful quantities of coal and oil, I would posit that for us to have caused a two or three degree change in average temps is absurd. I look at several things [as a rank amateur of course] when I make my statements, but the most powerful observation one can make is the location of a huge percentage of “weather monitoring stations” in and on heat islands. Many of our stations are located at airports, where huge quantities of kerosene are burned nearly non-stop each and every day. In addition, they are huge expanses of thick concrete, which are very efficient at holding heat. Many temp stations are on rooftops, again, very hot places. Anyone who has ever worked on a roof, especially a flat, hot-mopped tar and gravel flat roof knows I speak the truth.
Until we remove our weather monitoring stations from cities and place them in environmentally neutral places like out in the countryside, we’ll never have an accurate picture to use to make intelligent and objective determinations about AGW.
Down here in Mississippi we had an unusual summer most of June and July were rainy,and lower than normal temps,were around the mid 80’s,while the northern states were experienceing the weather we usually have,highs near 100 degrees!Now though we are having temps in the 90’s,but not for long,due to a cold front coming this weekend.Also the Almanac is predicting an unusually cold winter this year,that is why I am bringing in more firewood than usual,this year.I believe we are headed for a cool down that could last for a few years,and yes we are due for a mini-ice age,past due really.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.
As you said, only time will tell. This reminded me of a pretty good book I read, Danielle Kidnapped: A Story of Survival in the Coming Ice Age.
I was on a webinar for government agencies that manage large tracts of land, like BLM and Forest Service, etc.
The young scientist starts her presentation “We have been tracking significant global warming trends for the last ten years, except for the most recent three which didn’t meet expectations.”
So her data was for 10 years…… obviously enough to measure global trends like ice ages and such….. and I laughed out loud when she said they threw out the data from the last three years since they didn’t meet expectations. So this is science?????
Here’s a NOAA site that tracks snow cover and Ice Cover http://www.natice.noaa.gov/ims/
And another NOAA site for ice cover. http://www.natice.noaa.gov/Products_On_Demand/pod.html
As one of the ‘lefties’ of the group I’ll say this, I’m so on the fence about climate change I’m getting splinters. That being said, whether climate chaos is man-made or solar driven (personally, I think it’s solar driven which puts me on the fence), something is wrong with our jet stream and our climate. I’m in the chicago area and I haven’t seen normal weather in years. We get mild winters while those on the opposite side of the planet are in an unusual deep freeze. Our summers have drought while those with mild rainfall see deluges and floods. We have unseasonaly cool summer days and those on the other side of the planet are dying in great numbers from extreme heat waves.
If you want to deny climate change, do so at your own peril. Something IS happening to our climate and it is not doing anything good for humanity. I don’t care if it’s global warming or global cooling. I prefer the term climate chaos as it seems most appropriate. I don’t believe in the liberal myth of carbon credits and cap and trade and I urge you to not buy into the myth that climate change is a lie.
As a survival blog I urge all to prepare for ANY and ALL eventualities whether it agrees with our current political persuasion or not.
Randy,
You make very salient points. I also see unusual patterns emerging in our weather, but believe it is just a part of our normal oscillation. The sun waxes and wanes, causing our weather to change along with it, so periods of great activity on our sun would naturally coincide with warmer than usual earth temps, just as a blank, calm sun would necessarily follow with cooler and milder than average temps.
It must be that our civilization’s attempts to prevent the catastrophic advent of man created global warming has had the effect sought. The Earth has been cooling. However, we must come to realize that global cooling is much more dangerous than global warming, and reverse our efforts! We must immediately stop all programs designed to limit our production of C02 and attempt to create even more of this vital gas, in order to save our planet. Plants need the gas to survive and grow! We need longer growing seasons to produce food for our population! We need shorter winters..not longer! So, please do your part in this important, life-enhancing, effort. Breathe deeper and more often, and let the car idle longer. Thank you!
We have the same hot,hot,hot and dry, dry, dry weather. We have a burn ban because everything is so dry and brittle. You sweat just walking to your car. It’s pretty miserable. If we ever lose electricity, you can expect alot of deaths and sick people that are not used to dealing with this heat and being in air conditioning all day. Even in the “winter”, we have some hot days. I don’t even own a heavy jacket and hardly any sweaters. We have some cold days but not that many. I guess that is good though, because we do have longer growing seasons.
But Ision, we need a little more cooler air down here!
I hear you about the A/C Texasgirl. Florida would be pretty much uninhabitable for seven months of the year without it. I would hazard to guess that our population would be much like the fifties and early to mid sixties without it. Back then, permanent population was tiny, then quintupled when snow-birds migrated down from northern states in the winter. Actually, I would quite prefer it that way. Having lived here since my early twenties , I am used to the heat and can deal with it pretty well, of course back in 1981, the demographic was quite different than we have today, without A/C I suspect that only the hardiest of souls would challenge the summers here.
Most places where A/C is the only thing that makes life tolerable would de-habitate if the grid went down. Las Vegas would be the ghost town it once was.
You bring up a very, very good point – regarding A/C in general. I’ve added the notion to my post-ideas list. A SHTF-grid-down would not only present the terrible problems we’ve discussed before, but there would be a fairly large portion who simply would not survive in their given condition without A/C… Period.
People need to remember this when they are thinking about their “bug out” locations or re-locating. If you are not used to the climate you are moving into, if the grid goes down, you might be in trouble. Like here, even us that are used to the heat somewhat, we are spoiled by the a/c. And in Texas, we go for long periods without rain. So if you just think, oh I will move down there, get some seeds and be fine, think again. You have to learn this over time and lots of patience. I don’t think our Northern friends realize how hot it gets, because it’s so humid too.
I live in Florida. I am used to the summer weather, and hardly break a sweat on the hottest days. When I first moved here, I thought it was very hot..and tried various ways to cool down. But, the swimming pool’s water got hot, the ocean’s water got hot, and the breeze would not cool you down, even if you were soaking wet. Even your home’s shower…on full cold..was warm. Without a/c, and without going to sit in the local Mall, the only way to actually get cool..was to find a natural spring pool, whose waters welled up from deep underground tunnels. Luckily, I found one. 40 feet across, 40 feet deep, crystal clear and ICE COLD! I mean..so cold you could not stay in the water for more than a few minutes. We rigged a rope to swing out over the middle of the spring..and allow us to let go and fall into the it’s center. After we did so, we would desperately try to get out of the water, screaming from the sudden cold, and quickly climb out. Afterwards, we would be cool and comfortable for about 15 minutes, before we would again feel the heat. Whereupon, we would repeat the process. We didn’t worry about gators or snakes..as the water was too cold for them. I guess when the shtf…one could simply go to such a place..and camp. Just bring something to eat.