Now that NSIDC is publishing data again I thought I would post two graphs comparing JAXA MASIE and NSIDC.
I’m doing it for Arctic and Antarctic (but MASIE has no Antarctic data)
Normally in the Arctic JAXA and NSIDC are very close only at the minimum … but now they are very close.
And in the Antarctic they might as well be doing just one they overlap so much.
Antarctica’s Increasing Sea Ice Levels is a Worry
“THE size and power of ships needed to break through Antarctica’s increasing sea ice levels is a worry for the global research community.
In recent years countries including Australia have battled to reach their stations on the frozen continent, making resupply missions time consuming and expensive, Australian Antarctic Division spokesman Rod Wooding said.
“We’re noticing that the sea ice situation is becoming more difficult,” he told reporters on Monday.
The sea ice through the Southern Ocean and around Australia’s Mawson Station usually breaks up for a couple of months a year allowing ships to enter the bay but that did not happen in 2013-14.
“We had to get fuel in by helicopter which is inadequate for the long-term sustainability of the station,” Dr Wooding said.”Other national programs have had similar problems: the French in particular, Japanese also.””
This part is hilarious:
There is no single reason why sea ice levels are increasing but Hobart-based expert Tony Worby said it tends to gather around icebergs and wind patterns also play a part.”We know sea ice extent is increasing, there was a record maximum in September 2014,” Prof Worby said.”It’s quite hard to forecast …. “
But but …. I thougth all this stuff was easy to forecast. Just blame it on global warming!
I guess blaming more sea ice on global warming is difficult when the’ve been screaming for decades that global warming causes less sea ice.
(h/t Green Sand – thanks for the link)
I usually do Sea Ice Extent. But I had a request for Area.
Antarctic Sea Ice Area Data is here. It is usually 5-6 days behind NSIDC Extent data.
“Previous studies suggested the ice was usually 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 m) thick”
“The robot sub surveys, which were spot-checked by drilling and shipboard tests, suggest Antarctica’s average ice thickness is considerably higher than previous estimates.
‘On average, the thickness of the ice was 4.6 to 18 feet (1.4 to 5.5 m). In the three regions it surveyed, the robot sub found that deformed, thickened ice accounted for at least half of and as much as 76 percent of the total ice volume, the researchers report.”
http://www.thegwpf.com/antarctic-ice-thicker-than-thought-new-study-finds/
sunshine hours 