Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss
Source: The Guardian
Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.
.......
"The sea ice is going rapidly. It's 80% less than it was just 30 years ago. There has been a dramatic loss. This is a symptom of global warming and it contributes to enhanced warming of the Arctic," said Jennifer Francis, research professor with the Rutgers Institute of Coastal and Marine Science.
According to Francis and a growing body of other researchers, the Arctic ice loss adds heat to the ocean and atmosphere which shifts the position of the jet stream the high-altitude river of air that steers storm systems and governs most weather in northern hemisphere.
"This is what is affecting the jet stream and leading to the extreme weather we are seeing in mid-latitudes," she said. "It allows the cold air from the Arctic to plunge much further south. The pattern can be slow to change because the [southern] wave of the jet stream is getting bigger. It's now at a near record position, so whatever weather you have now is going to stick around," she said.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/25/frozen-spring-arctic-sea-ice-loss
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I agree.....I have seen a lot of change so far, and I understand the progression of changes as we lose ice and snow cover. This is going to have a snowball effect, where it moves faster and gets bigger over time. And it won't take long before we see more.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)groundloop
(11,519 posts)It'll be an utter waste of time trying to explain how "global warming" is causing an abnormally cold spring here. On the other hand I fully expect that we'll be complaining about the heat in a few more weeks.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)but it doesn't fit as neatly into a sound bite.
groundloop
(11,519 posts)My tea-bagger acquaintances don't get it, though. All winter long I've heard nothing but "how come it's so cold if we got this so called global warming?" (and in fact we actually had an abnormally warm winter up 'till now).
Roy Rolling
(6,918 posts)Have these so-called "scientists" been approved by "experts" like Sarah Palin and Michell Bachman?
When Republicants whine that this science is bogus then I will know it is for sure factual.
Dryvinwhileblind
(153 posts)...in sw ohio, we'd already shot 15 rounds of golf, the temp. on the first day of spring was 86*, and we paid for it all summer, with the lack of permafrost killing the bugs, fleas, etc. Until about 10 years ago, in this neck of the woods, it stayed frozen from mid Nov., through mid March, with none of the spring thunderstorms in mid Jan./Feb. that are now common. Much windier too, dang it.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)[center][/center]
Botany
(70,516 posts)Now as happened last fall w/ sandy we have high pressure systems over
Greenland changing normal weather patterns.
AAO
(3,300 posts)Pretty damn sad the politicians did virtually nothing.
raccoon
(31,111 posts)AAO
(3,300 posts)PWNED is internet slang that means "Owned, dominated" or "Perfectly Owned"
Scuba
(53,475 posts)AAO
(3,300 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)The jet stream is further south than it would normally be now.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I was all ready to sunbath in January here in PA.....instead, I am having no spring at the end of March! This sucks.
And still, there are too many people denying that there is a problem. Just today, I heard talk radio going on and on about how this is a lie. We are doomed if we can't get the message out.
magic59
(429 posts)T-baggers and such, they are too busy ruining the Earth for the next generation.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)as long as all the talking heads are working so hard to convince them otherwise......and convince them that scientists don't know what they are talking about.
Lobo27
(753 posts)Of course not as crazy as in the movie or as quickly, but something similar as to the planet doing a self cleansing I suppose. Or I guess another Ice Age comes along after the mess global warming is causing.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Alter a few parameters in something as large and complex as our planet's weather systems, and things can change radically.
The teabaggers may deride global climate change as "turning the planet into a desert", so they can say "See, it's snowing! Global warming's a hoax!"
But warm things up by a few degrees, watch some of the arctic ice melt, and watch weather patterns change radically, which, yes, results in more blizzards at times.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)"Weather weirding" is starting to look more and more accurate every passing year.....
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Last year at this time the cherry blossoms had come and gone. This year they haven't started to pop yet
Uncle Joe
(58,366 posts)Thanks for the thread, Redfairen.
Overseas
(12,121 posts)That was one of the more accelerated consequences the ecologists and scientists warning us had hoped we could avoid by taking action decades ago.