Northwest Passage - 2016

[SailOar]

2016 ties with 2007 for second lowest Arctic sea ice minimum | National Sea Ice Data Center

Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its seasonal minimum extent for 2016 on September 10. A relatively rapid loss of sea ice in the first ten days of September has pushed the ice extent to a statistical tie with 2007 for the second lowest in the satellite record. September’s low extent followed a summer characterized by conditions generally unfavorable for sea ice loss...

On September 10, Arctic sea ice extent stood at 4.14 million square kilometers (1.60 million square miles). This appears to have been the lowest extent of the year and is tied with 2007 as the second lowest extent on record. This year’s minimum extent is 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) above the record low set in 2012 and is well below the two standard deviation range for the 37-year satellite record. Satellite data show extensive areas of open water in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and in the Laptev and East Siberian seas...




Dashed green line: 2012, a record summer minimum
Solid green line: 2015
Red line: 2016

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by jimbunyard

Of course there're a host of other 'myths' and 'crackpot theories'
that these 'armchair pseudo-scientific skeptics' like to kick around:

The moon landing
Non-spheroidal Earth
Biological Evolution
The Big Bang

Care to add any to the list?

Unfortunately, the list is nearly endless and growing daily:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...iracy_theories

One of my personal favorites is that the Bush administration orchestrated the 9-11 attacks. (That one is true, by the way. I saw a video on the internet that proves it).

We seem to be hard-wired to believe what we want to believe, either ignoring science or distorting it to conform to our beliefs.

[newhaul]

Wonder what the pack would have looked like if the Russian ice breakers had not broken the sea ice all the way to the pole at the beginning of the melt season.
On another front it looks to me that the nwp is rapidly closing for the year.
Environment and Climate Change Canada - Weather and Meteorology - Full resolution map

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Wonder what the pack would have looked like if the Russian ice breakers had not broken the sea ice all the way to the pole at the beginning of the melt season.
On another front it looks to me that the nwp is rapidly closing for the year.
Environment and Climate Change Canada - Weather and Meteorology - Full resolution map

Do icebreakers contribute to climate change?

When icebreakers travel through sea ice, they leave trails of open water in their wake. Dark open water does not reflect nearly as much sunlight as ice does, so sometimes people wonder if icebreakers speed up or exacerbate sea ice decline.

In summer, the passages created by icebreakers do increase local summertime melting because the ships cut through the ice and expose new areas of water to warm air. However, the melt caused by an icebreaker is small and localized. Channels created by icebreakers are quite narrow and few in number compared to natural gaps in the ice. In winter, any openings caused by icebreakers will quickly freeze over again. So, scientists do not think that icebreakers play a significant role in accelerating the decline in Arctic sea ice.

Frequently Asked Questions on Arctic sea ice | Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis

This is not the result of ice breakers!



The Arctic sea ice starts to growth just about this time every year.

[newhaul]

So you are also going to deny that many icebreakers operating within the pack are not a contributing factor breaking the ice allows for more movement by the wind and water which causes additional melting that would not otherwise happen with a solid sheet of ice.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by newhaul

So you are also going to deny that many icebreakers operating within the pack are not a contributing factor breaking the ice allows for more movement by the wind and water which causes additional melting that would not otherwise happen with a solid sheet of ice.

Can you provide one single shred of evidence that your theory has any credence? Speculation and supposition do not constitute evidence.

[DeepFrz]

Yep, blame it on the Russians.

I have to think that ice breakers of all nationalities do contribute to the ice melt by, especially, breaking up multi year ice. However, as stated in the article, this effect is secondary to global warming. Just one more of man's intrusions on the global climate causing warming.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Yep, blame it on the Russians.

I have to think that ice breakers of all nationalities do contribute to the ice melt by, especially, breaking up multi year ice. However, as stated in the article, this effect is secondary to global warming. Just one more of man's intrusions on the global climate causing warming.

Ironically, it was two Canadian ice breakers that went to the North Pole this year

Two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers reach North Pole - North - CBC News

[DeepFrz]

Sorry Jack, but that article was from 2014. Nevertheless many nations, including the US, have ice breakers active in the Arctic.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Sorry Jack, but that article was from 2014. Nevertheless many nations, including the US, have ice breakers active in the Arctic.

Oops. I knew we had icebreakers active. Missed the date.

This year:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...tic-claim.html

[svtatoosh]

I would forget about the icebreakers...

http://gcaptain.com/adventurous-billionaires-should-be-drooling-over-this-icebreaking-megayacht/?#.VgVcLCtNv3g

[TeddyDiver]

On arctic sea ice there are constantly faults due wind and thermal movements much greater than a flotilla of icebreakers could ever make. And they just plow, not melt, their way which dissappears most of the time quite fast.
Burning dirty diesel in their engines might be a factor much more concerning in this regard. Russians have six nuclear icebreakers doing most of the NSR service.

BR Teddy

[TeddyDiver]

I'm most concerned about the increase of autumn and winter rainfall. The faster and thicker the new ice gets covered with snow the weaker will the ice be by the end of the winter.

[svtatoosh]

A Norwegian yard has 2 new hybrid cruise ships with icebreaker capabilty in process. Should be much better emissions on the way.

[jackdale]

From the Canadian Coast Guard Twitter feed.

Swedish icebreaker #Oden moored to ice floe at #NorthPole #CanArctic #LouisSStLaurent

Canadian Coast Guard ‏@CCG_GCC Sep 15
@RafiLetzter Due to ice drift, #Oden was ~0.75 nautical miles South of the geographic North Pole at the time of this photo.

A lot of open water ahead of the Oden.