tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79993700571028902642024-03-13T09:01:14.865-07:00Blue Water NewsAt BWN I will announce important stories concerning my work, ocean, climate and polar news. This is a blog devoted to the waters and poles of the earth and the issue of climate change. David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-3060068528474665032016-02-29T12:18:00.003-08:002016-02-29T12:18:56.105-08:00Breaking... OVER THE HORIZON book is now available!!It is with great pleasure that I announce my long overdue book project:<br />
OVER THE HORIZON: Exploring the Edges of a Changing Planet<br />
The book is now available for pre-sale on my new website <a href="http://www.davidthoreson.com/" target="_blank">davidthoreson.com</a><br />
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About the story-</div>
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David has sailed over 65,000 nautical miles across the
globe including below the Antarctic Circle, three times across the Atlantic,
six times over the Arctic Circle, twice through the Northwest Passage and
completed a 28,000-mile circumnavigation of the North and South American
Continents. During this time, Thoreson has accumulated some 150,000 photographs
and over 600 pages of personal journal entries documenting his journeys. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Over The Horizon is an autobiographical photography
book. Thoreson has been called “The Accidental Explorer” because he is a sailor
from Iowa and ventured to the sea with a “salty” southern Minnesota farmer. In
this very personal account of his adventures, David combines story-telling with
stunning photography, ultimately arriving at a tipping point of human history
in the Arctic waters of the Northwest Passage. </div>
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After all the the years chasing
the horizon and following his dream, <span lang="SV">David </span>became an eye-witness to a rapidly-changing
Arctic and ocean environment.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thoreson’s life has been profoundly impacted
by his eye-witness documentation of a changing Arctic environment with less
ice. He is now an advocate for ocean and wilderness protection along with a
more sustainable future for generations of explorers yet to come. Over the
Horizon is his beautiful and compelling life story...</span></div>
David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-89466428262708870392015-02-26T13:58:00.001-08:002015-02-26T14:25:32.230-08:00David Thoreson TEDx Vail Talk- Watch Now!Wow, this is a very nice piece to be able to post on my blog. I am very happy to have you watch my 9-minute TED Talk from the beautiful Vilar Center for the Performing Arts in Beaver Creek, CO. I was one of 9 speakers (I kicked of the event!!) in the 5th year event as part of the TEDx Vail Conference.<br />
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How does a small town Iowa boy find his pathway to the sea and polar regions of the planet? Well… please watch if you are so inclined and share with as many folks as you wish. Thank you for your interest in my work and the very important issue of climate change. Cheers all, David<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/QiDBgEQziJk" target="_blank">The Accidental Explorer-DT's TED Talk</a><br />
<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-21702058032933033562015-02-15T21:20:00.001-08:002015-02-15T21:31:10.642-08:00TEDx Vail PresentationWow, what a great experience in Vail/Beaver Creek with all the other presenters and our terrific hosts. Thank you so much to the never-resting Kat Haber and her side-kick Corinne Hara. I started out the weekend experience with a nice presentation at the Walking Mountains Science Center in Avon. Thank you. Very fun evening. http://www.walkingmountains.org/<br />
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Then events shifted to the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek for the main TED presentations on Friday (Jan. 9th) afternoon and night. This was an amazing time and there was a big buzz!!<br />
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Nine speakers, folk dancing, classic fun music, piped in TED videos. Spectacular! I kicked off the event as the first speaker and told my story, my big idea, the discovery of rapid climate change while sailing the Arctic's Northwest Passage.<br />
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I am going to add to this blog with more personalities and ideas from others and many big thank yous. Keep checking in, more to come... David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-25662898009809210132015-01-04T08:33:00.003-08:002015-02-15T21:22:22.802-08:00TEDx Vail Presentation!!It is with great excitement and honor that I announce I will be doing a TED presentation at the 5th annual TEDx Vail Conference this Friday evening in Beaver Creek, CO. There are unbelievable presenters with topics from slam poetry, healthy recipes to "Frenemies." Please check it out and all of us will be filmed and our presentations will be uploaded to Youtube.<br />
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You can find all the information here- <a href="https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/12121" target="_blank">TEDx Vail</a>David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-15499018583743877592014-09-11T09:00:00.000-07:002014-09-11T09:00:31.907-07:00Lost Franklin ShipThe search for the Northwest Passage has been a much sought-after goal of explorers for over four centuries dating back to the late sixteenth century. Most of the expeditions into the far north ended in tremendous hardship and quite often the deaths of the entire crew members of the vessels.<br />
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The Franklin Expedition of 1845-6 was no different than many others. The loss of Sir John Franklin's vessels Erebus and Terror, along with all 129 men, began a flurry of activity that eventually led to the successful navigation of the Passage in 1903-6 by Roald Amundsen. </div>
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The ultimate demise of the Franklin expedition is still a bit of a mystery but a big piece was just uncovered this week with the very exciting discovery of one of the two ships in Franklin Strait in Arctic Canada. See photo above from an underwater rover. It is still so new that we do not know which ship it is but that news will emerge and I will post a full account here soon...</div>
<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-37142042992281110272014-03-17T12:19:00.001-07:002014-03-17T12:40:03.752-07:00My Exhibit at the University of Iowa and the Great Climate MarchHello everyone. I am fresh back from the start of the Great March for Climate Action in Los Angeles which kicked off a 3000-mile, 8-month, human-powered journey to Washington, DC. The goal of the March is to attempt to raise awareness and create action to engage citizens and politicians to engage and address the issue/crisis of Climate Change. More on this to come for sure soon...<br />
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First though I want to post a youtube video from the University of Iowa Television about my opening night gallery talk in Iowa City at the Keyes Gallery in the Old Capitol. It was a fantastic night, even though it was so miserably cold (I brought the Arctic weather).<br />
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Please feel free to browse through the video and pass it on to friends. I will be back in Iowa City the week of April 21-25 speaking in schools, Prairie Lights, Iowa Children's Museum and again at the University of Iowa during the evening of the 24th. Hope to see you there. Thank you all.<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/5Ls1lbJBXJo" target="_blank">David Thoreson Gallery Talk YouTube</a><br />
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<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-51991891356708565072013-05-11T05:31:00.002-07:002013-05-11T05:31:24.630-07:00400 Parts Per Million...and Climbing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is a sad note today that the long-awaited climate milestone has now come and passed. On May 9th atmospheric CO2 officially passed 400 parts per million of concentration in the atmosphere creating a condition of "loaded dice" as we have now gamed our climate with certain unknown future consequences. We, as human beings, are now in very uncharted waters and speaking of those, well, they are being loaded up with CO2 also and turning our ocean into a very acidic ecosystem. Yes, we are well underway with the big Ponzi scheme on the planet.<br />
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One of the most important "real" climate scientists of our time, Michael Mann, recently put it this way, "The last time we're confident that CO2 was sustained at these levels is
more than 10 million years ago, during the middle of the Miocene
period. This was a time when global temperatures were substantially
warmer than today, and there was very little ice around anywhere on the
planet."<br />
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So where are we going as a people on this planet? Certainly not in the responsible direction. David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-87735975638340759822012-12-30T07:09:00.003-08:002012-12-30T21:11:46.716-08:00Presenting at Vail SymposiumI am very excited to be presenting at the Vail Symposium on Jan. 31st, 2013, as part of their Speaker Series. I have an intriguing evening planned with some history and exploration of the Northwest Passage including Sir John Franklin and Roald Amundsen. The evening will include much of my three expeditions to and through the Passage on s/v Cloud Nine and Ocean Watch and conclude with what I hope is a lively discussion of climate change and specifically an altered Arctic environment.<br />
Hope to see a packed house in Vail. More to come soon but please follow the link below for further information on the evening. Thanks, David<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/Ux29AF" target="_blank">Link to David's Vail Symposium Info</a><br />
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<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-26706130502087748012012-08-27T07:42:00.005-07:002012-08-27T08:16:17.252-07:00Record Ice Loss - NW Passage Wide Open<br />
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There has been a tremendous amount of news lately about weather including the approaching Hurricane Isaac churning in the Caribbean Sea and set to arrive in the Gulf soon. </div>
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The summer has been hot with July being the warmest ever on record. A new scientific study indicates the drought in the North American West is/was the worst of the last 800 years with major impacts to the carbon cycle and hints of even drier times ahead (July 29 in Nature-Geoscience). "This will also would trigger a whole host of significant water resource challenges in a region already subject to frequent water shortages.” </div>
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Scientists are watching the Pacific looking for the developing El Nino which currently seems to be neutral. </div>
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But what the heck has been going on in the Arctic? What is the state of the ice pack this season? Is the infamous Northwest Passage open again? As many of you know this is my main interest having sailed through both directions in 2007 (E-W) and 2009 (W-E). </div>
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I am absolutely astounded by the loss of ice this summer up north. There is literally no ice in all of Baffin Bay all the way north to Thule some 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle. As one crosses Baffin Bay traveling west and enters the Northwest Passage in Lancaster sound the story remains the same, clear sailing all the way to the remote village of Resolute. Again, absolutely NO ice.</div>
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***Note- Confirmation has arrived today. Arctic sea ice coverage shrank to a record low 4.21 million square kilometers as of Aug. 25, declining below the previous record low of 4.25 million sq. km marked in 2007, this according to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency satellite data.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rib0x8inaIw/UDuGR-L-_aI/AAAAAAAAAnI/CElJc0uoISE/s1600/2012-SeaIce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rib0x8inaIw/UDuGR-L-_aI/AAAAAAAAAnI/CElJc0uoISE/s640/2012-SeaIce.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The red line represents current declining ice coverage in the Arctic trending towards a record sea ice loss. The light blue line represents the record loss of sea ice in 2007, the year we sailed Cloud Nine through the Northwest Passage east to west never touching any ice in 6700 nautical miles. </td></tr>
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A very rare Arctic/polar storm this month has shuffled the entire polar ice cap around and exposed a lot more ice to the melting conditions. Scientists will be studying the combined effects of excessive wind with the warmer infusion of water on the ice pack in the months ahead as the 2012 summer melt season continues to break all known records. </div>
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The loss of our northern polar ice cap should be the biggest news in the history of news cycles but for some reason it just doesn't get much play. Is it just too profound for folks to comprehend or believe? If we were watching another planet's polar ice cap disintegrating before our eyes it would be an unbelievable event in history and yet we continue to have a debate about whether climate change is really real or just a perpetuated "hoax." </div>
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David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-91336087397177644792012-07-12T05:07:00.002-07:002012-07-12T05:42:29.094-07:00Hottest 12 Months Ever Recorded<div class="section-title">
These are the warmest 12-month periods on record for the contiguous
United States. During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13
months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution
for the first time in the 1895-present record. <b style="color: red;">The odds of this
occurring randomly is 1 in 1,594,323. </b></div>
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This is very interesting especially when looking at the ice reports up north. Spring came roughly 3 full weeks early this year and we had record highs in March with temps up near 90 degrees at the end of the month into April. This has now translated to the northern ice pack which just happens to be 3 full weeks ahead of the summer melt season. Coincidence? Hardly. La Nina has been replaced by El Nino. Temperatures are climbing again. Look for record numbers of boats again transitting the infamous Northwest Passage, now very much ice-free. </div>
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According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic ice retreated very quickly in June. "The last three Junes (2010-2012) are the three lowest in the satellite
record. June 2012 ice extent was 140,000 square kilometers (54,000
square miles) above the 2010 record low. Ice losses were notable in the
Kara Sea, and in the Beaufort Sea, where a large <a href="http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/words/word.pl?polynya">polynya</a>
has formed. Retreat of ice in the Hudson and Baffin bays also
contributed to the low June 2012 extent. The only area of the Arctic
where sea ice extent is currently above average is along the eastern
Greenland coast."</div>
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</div>David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-78129898796438312532012-07-09T20:49:00.003-07:002012-07-09T20:49:41.871-07:00RECORD TEMPS AND LOSS OF ICEI've been monitoring the ice in the north this summer for the Northwest Passage season and it looks like it could surpass the 2007 season for loss of ice. Things are going south quickly and Baffin Bay is now open which is just absolutely crazy. The mouth of Lancaster is open so the situation will now develop very quickly and there will probably be an ice-free lane through the traditional passage this summer. I'd say you can put it in the bank.<br />
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Again, good for explorers, not so good for the planet... here is the latest ice chart for Baffin Bay. Warm waters flowing north have opened up the entire West coast of Greenland-<br />
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Next, let's go into the warm temperatures. I believe there have been a few records happening lately if my mind is clear on this one. Let's see what the science says and if there is some linkage with the above trends and ice charts. More coming for sure.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-10393527670313280352012-04-15T07:54:00.000-07:002012-04-15T08:00:58.446-07:00Wisdom from the Titanic and James CameronFamed filmmaker James Cameron has metaphorically summed up what the human race is facing from climate change by his reframing the Titanic story:<br />
<br />
"Part of the Titanic parable is of arrogance, of hubris, of the sense
that we’re too big to fail. Well, where have we heard that one before?<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
There was this big machine, this human system, that was pushing
forward with so much momentum that it couldn’t turn, it couldn’t stop in
time to avert a disaster. And that’s what we have right now.<br />
<br />
Within that human system on board that ship, if you want to make it a
microcosm of the world, you have different classes, you’ve got first
class, second class, third class. In our world right now you’ve got
developed nations, undeveloped nations.<br />
<br />
You’ve got the starving millions who are going to be the ones most
affected by the next iceberg that we hit, which is going to be climate
change. We can see that iceberg ahead of us right now, but we can’t
turn.<br />
<br />
We can’t turn because of the momentum of the system, the political
momentum, the business momentum. There are too many people making
money out of the system, the way the system works right now, and those
people frankly have their hands on the levers of power and aren’t ready
to let ‘em go.<br />
<br />
Until they do, we will not be able to turn to miss that iceberg, and
we’re going to hit it, and when we hit it, the rich are still going to
be able to get their access to food, to arable land, to water, and so
on. It’s going to be the poor, it’s going to be the steerage that are
going to be impacted. It’s the same with the Titanic."<br />
<br />
Very well said Mr. Cameron.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-19085449659105770392012-03-15T14:35:00.002-07:002012-03-15T14:36:30.403-07:00NASA Ice Bridge ProjectThis looks like a great research project to follow- <br />
<br />
GREENBELT, Md. -- Researchers and flight crew with NASA's Operation
IceBridge, an airborne mission to study changes in polar ice, began
another season of science activity with the start of the 2012 Arctic
campaign on March 13. From mid-March through mid-May, a modified P-3
from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., will conduct
daily missions out of Thule and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland —with one
flight to Fairbanks, Alaska and back—to measure sea and land ice. The
campaign will also feature instrument tests, continued international
collaboration and educational activities.<br />
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<br />
After NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite's (ICESat) stopped
collecting data in 2009, Operation IceBridge began as a way to continue
the multi-year record of ice elevation measurements until the launch of
ICESat-2 in 2016. IceBridge gathers data during annual campaigns over
the Arctic starting in March and Antarctic starting in October.<br />
<br />
IceBridge flights will measure both previously surveyed sites, such as
Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier, and unstudied areas of sea ice, such as
the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. "The most important sea ice flights
are the transits between Thule and Fairbanks," said IceBridge project
scientist Michael Studinger.<br />
<br />
The P-3 carries an array of instruments for measuring ice surface
elevation and thickness and snow depth, and will be joined by other
aircraft later in the campaign. The Airborne Topographic Mapper uses
lasers to measure changes in surface elevation and uses these readings
to create elevation maps. Radar instruments from the Center for Remote
Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.,
show snow and ice thickness and allow scientists to see through land ice
to the bedrock below. A gravimeter from Sander Geophysics and Columbia
University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, N.Y.,
similarly lets researchers determine water depth beneath floating ice.<br />
<br />
A Falcon jet from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.,
carrying a high-altitude laser altimeter, the Land, Vegetation, and Ice
Sensor (LVIS) will join the P-3 on April 19. The Falcon flies higher and
faster than the P-3, which allows it to cover longer flight lines and
enables LVIS to survey a 2-km (1.2 mile) wide swath of ice. The Falcon
will play a critical role in surveying near coastal areas of Greenland,
and in sea ice flights out of Thule.<br />
<br />
IceBridge will also join in efforts to validate and calibrate sea ice
measurements by CryoSat-2, the European Space Agency's ice-monitoring
satellite. ESA's airborne calibration campaign, CryoVEx, aims to ensure
that CryoSat-2's radar readings are accurate. "One of our prime goals in
Thule will be to underfly a European CryoSat sea ice track within two
hours of its passage over the sea ice north of Greenland," said acting
project manager Seelye Martin.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-71789508488709622942012-03-02T05:03:00.001-08:002012-03-02T05:15:44.756-08:00A Look at 2012 Arctic Ice TrendsThe 2012 Arctic ice outlook is mixed. Any Arctic vessels looking to transit the Northwest Passage will have a much better chance entering from the Atlantic and Baffin Bay vs the Bering Sea. There will be delays in the shipping season through the Bering and Chukchi Seas as they have had a tremendously challenging winter throughout these areas as the National Snow and Ice Data Center lays out below: <br />
<br />
Overall, Arctic sea ice extent remained lower than average in January.
However, in the Bering Sea, ice extent was much greater than normal. The
heavy ice cover caused problems for fishermen and made for an arduous
late-season resupply mission to Nome, Alaska. The Arctic Oscillation,
which had been in its positive phase most of the winter so far, switched
to a negative mode, bringing cold weather to Europe and changing the
direction of sea ice movement.<b> </b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
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<br />
<b>January 2012 compared to past years-</b><br />
Arctic sea ice extent for January 2012 was the fourth lowest in the
satellite record. Including the year 2012, the linear rate of decline
for January ice extent over the satellite record is 3.2% per decade.<br />
Based on the satellite record, before 2005 average January ice extent
had never been lower than 14 million square kilometers (5.41 million
square miles). <b>January ice extent has now fallen below that mark six out
of the last seven years.</b>David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-73864457901688163702012-01-11T09:06:00.000-08:002012-01-11T09:14:33.770-08:00900 Record Highs Across the USAWow. Record-setting January weather. This reminds me very much of the winter of 2006-7 when lakes all through the upper Midwest did not freeze over the winter. Many of these signs were present as I headed north to attempt the Northwest Passage by sailboat. As we all know, the summer of 2007 turned out to be the record-setting loss of ice year of all-time. I am afraid we are going to see that again this coming summer. I don't understand how anyone can deny what is really happening anymore...<br />
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<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-27179303103863370102011-11-28T06:39:00.001-08:002011-11-28T07:07:31.760-08:00Change in Arctic More than Just ScienceI have been following trends in the Arctic for quite some time now but two recent stories have caught my eye as reported in the Arctic Portal, a great source for Arctic news- <a href="http://www.arcticportal.org/news">http://www.arcticportal.org/news</a><br />
<br />
I hear the arguments going on all the time in the lower 48. Skeptics versus scientists and all the "real"<br />
people who live and work in the Arctic get lost and forgotten in this senseless debate. I firmly believe in the struggles of the real people and animals who live and work in the region to tell the story of a changing Arctic in a different but much more effective way than the scientists who produce effective but sometimes confusing data.<br />
<br />
The two stories here offer real-life data in real time documenting the on-going future and trends in the<br />
once frozen region:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Climate Change Leading to Starving Dogs </b><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Lack of ice is hindering hunting in Greenland. Humans are not the
only one who rely on hunting in, the dogs in Qaanaaq are starving.
<br />
<br />
The weather and climate change are causing problems in Greenland.
Five years ago the sea ice had frozen in early November, making hunting
for dog food easy, hunting both seals and fish.<br />
<div style="color: orange;">
This year it is unforeseen when the ice will freeze.</div>
<br />
<b>Northern Sea Route Closes for the Season </b><br />
<br />
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<br />
The Northern Sea Route shipping season is now over. New ice forming in the Arctic ocean hinders any more shipping. <b style="color: orange;">This is the longest shipping season ever, one month longer then last year.</b><br />
<br />
The <i>Perseverance</i> was both the first and last vessel this year to go
the route, the first one was the 29th of June and the last one today. The ship transported stable gas condensate from Murmansk in Russia to China, with the help of a Russian icebreaker.
Russia’s Ministry of Transport believes cargo transport through the
NSR will increase from <b>1.8 million tons in 2010 to 64 million tons by
2020.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Need any more proof that the Arctic is now open for business? The sad story from this is that the native peoples of the region will have a harder time sustaining themselves with the on-going</b><br />
<b>changes to their new environment.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-42113569253161681542011-09-16T06:57:00.000-07:002011-09-16T06:59:42.252-07:00Arctic Ice Reaches Summer Minimum<br />According the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) the Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its lowest extent for the year. The minimum ice extent was the second lowest in the satellite record, after 2007, and continues the decadal trend of rapidly decreasing summer sea ice. <br />
<br /> <b>Conditions in context:</b><br />
The last five years (2007 to 2011) have been the five lowest extents in the continuous satellite record, which extends back to 1979. While the record low year of 2007 was marked by a combination of weather conditions that favored ice loss (including clearer skies, favorable wind patterns, and warm temperatures), this year has shown more typical weather patterns but continued warmth over the Arctic. <span style="color: orange;">This supports the idea that the Arctic sea ice cover is continuing to thin.</span> Models and remote sensing data also indicate this is the case.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-80678787853079621792011-09-13T07:22:00.000-07:002011-09-13T07:28:17.513-07:00Arctic Ice Loss in August<b>August 2011 compared to previous years.<br />
</b>Average Arctic sea ice extent for August
2011 was the second-lowest for August in the satellite data record.
Including 2011 the linear trend for August now stands at –9.3% per
decade.<br />
<br />
The Northern Sea Route and NW Passage are simultaneously open. The door is open for commerce in the north and many countries are taking advantage of this. This new trend should be another sign and confirmation that climate change in rapidly changing the earth's environments.<br />
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David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-15394294739463799002011-09-01T09:10:00.001-07:002011-09-01T10:22:06.434-07:00Massive Change in Greenland IceBy Ian Johnston
msnbc.com 2011-09-01T14:43:21<br />
<br />
New photographs taken of a vast glacier in northern Greenland have revealed the astonishing rate of the glacial breakup, with one scientist saying he was rendered "speechless."<br />
<br />
"The break-off last year is bigger than anything seen for at least 150 years," glacial researcher Alun Hubbard said.<br />
<br />
Taken nearly two years apart, the photos show the extent of the ice loss. <b style="color: orange;">The channel is about ten miles wide.</b><span style="color: orange;">
</span>
Scientists returned in July this year and found the ice had been melting so quickly that some of their research masts stuck into the glacier were no longer in position.
Hubbard, who has been working with Jason Box, of Ohio State University, and others, said in a statement issued by the Byrd Polar Research Center that scientists were still trying to work out how fast the glacier was moving and the effect on the ice sheet feeding the glacier.<br />
<br />
"Although I knew what to expect in terms of ice loss from satellite imagery, I was still completely unprepared for the gob-smacking scale of the break-up, which rendered me speechless," he said in the statement.
"I'm very familiar with the glacier. It's very hard to sort of envisage something so big not being there ... to come back and basically see an ice shelf has disappeared, which is 20 kilometers across (about 12 miles) ... I was speechless and started laughing because I couldn't sort of believe it," Hubbard added, speaking to msnbc.com.<br />
<br />
"This region (northern Greenland) is experiencing temperatures which are abnormally warm ...<span style="color: red;"> </span><b style="color: orange;">I think the far northwest of Greenland is seeing a kind of new regime of climate</b>," he added.
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David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-72053719675438190422011-08-18T08:42:00.000-07:002011-09-01T10:24:25.423-07:00Northwest Passage Wide Open<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mkRSTzwwn80/Tk01lUcXMaI/AAAAAAAAAbE/4mKDCsz7E_8/s1600/NW%2BPass%2BOpen.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642224823424201122" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mkRSTzwwn80/Tk01lUcXMaI/AAAAAAAAAbE/4mKDCsz7E_8/s320/NW%2BPass%2BOpen.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 214px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a>
<br />
The infamous Northwest Passage is wide open again and small boats are pushing through both from the east and the west. I have had reports of 11 documented vessels making the attempt currently with no doubt a few others that will pop up on the radar screen in the weeks to come.
<br />
<br />
The passage opened early this year year with unprecedented melting through July. The melting slowed briefly but now a large high pressure system is parked over the area and sunny days will no doubt thin any remaining ice. The ice has even disappeared north of Resolute and Lancaster Sound allowing exploring of regions north which have been inaccessible to now.
<br />
<br />
The only question remaining now is how far and wide will the melt continue this season? The melt season extends through September and there is a very real chance that this year could mark another epic year of ice loss comparable or <span style="color: orange;">exceeding the record year of 2007</span> when we on Cloud Nine made our east-west transit.
<br />
<br />
I will be watching ice charts and keeping close watch. If you are interested in further details, watch the posting here or contact me personally through the website. David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-36902279862312960842011-08-16T09:33:00.000-07:002011-09-01T10:25:31.311-07:00Arctic Ice Loss Linked to Human Activity<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PpbB9FfekBQ/Tk2VAOGYMlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/qACdKyq5FvE/s1600/Human%2BAction.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642329739182486098" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PpbB9FfekBQ/Tk2VAOGYMlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/qACdKyq5FvE/s320/Human%2BAction.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a>
<br />
ANCHORAGE, Alaska: About half of the recent record loss of Arctic sea ice can be blamed on global warming caused by human activity, a leading climate research centre has found.
<br />
<br />
The study, funded by the US National Science Foundation is the first to attribute a specific proportion of the ice melt to greenhouse gases and pollution.
<br />
<br />
It used one of the world's most sophisticated climate models to reach its conclusions, said lead author Jennifer Kay, a scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. The paper was published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
<br />
<br />
"There's no doubt about it - sea ice is going away," she said. "What we found was that about half of that trend is related to the increasing greenhouse gases."
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="color: orange;">
The study said the melting of the ice pack was no short-term fluke but an actual change in climate.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Earlier research determined greenhouse gases were responsible for some loss of sea ice, but no one had been able to establish how big a part they played.
<br />
<br />
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/humans-to-blame-for-half-of-arctic-sea-ice-melt-says-study-20110815-1iuv0.html#ixzz1VD7ORXwH
<br />
<br />David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-74096332571819539232011-07-29T11:33:00.000-07:002011-07-29T11:50:52.382-07:00Tundra BurningThis is an amazing story from the Arctic tundra which I had not heard before. Reported on NPR this morning with the long story in the magazine "Nature." Image by Alaska Fire Service.<br /><br />"The Arctic tundra has been relatively thunderstorm-free for 10,000 years. But conditions are changing in the far north, and in 2007 a lightning strike caused the biggest wildfire ever recorded on the North Slope of Alaska. The tundra is normally a carbon sink, but scientists report in the journal Nature that that single fire released more carbon into the atmosphere than the entire Arctic tundra absorbs every year."<br /> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JzZtS1_TXuU/TjL_eNa7R0I/AAAAAAAAAaA/CI5kyPwDMU4/s1600/TundraFire.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JzZtS1_TXuU/TjL_eNa7R0I/AAAAAAAAAaA/CI5kyPwDMU4/s400/TundraFire.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634846978257667906" /></a>David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-74006280472183899252011-07-18T14:22:00.000-07:002011-07-18T14:29:32.540-07:002011 Arctic Summer Ice MeltAs with recent summers past, the Arctic is continuing to warm and it looks like the cycle is repeating itself again this summer with huge losses of ice coming up and maybe even nearing the record loss of ice in the 2007 season when we made our transit of the NW Passage from east to west on Cloud Nine. <br /><br />The National Snow and Ice Center is one of the foremost "legitimate" data collectors in<br />the ice business and here is their most recent report as of today:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Early sea ice melt onset, snow cover retreat indicates rapid 2011 summer decline. NSIDC<br /></span><br />Arctic sea ice extent declined at a rapid pace through the first half of July, and is <span style="font-weight:bold;">now tracking below the year 2007</span>, which saw the record minimum September extent. The rapid decline in the past few weeks is related to persistent above-average temperatures and an early start to melt. Snow cover over Northern Eurasia was especially low in May and June, continuing the pattern seen in April. <br /><br />This will be an interesting summer and early fall to track and I will keep you posted here. No doubt there will be a record number of small boats again trying for the "ice-free" Northwest Passage.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-75394337347649556062011-05-10T19:25:00.000-07:002011-05-10T19:34:36.442-07:00Linkage- Vatican and Dalai Lama- Big Climate VoicesCatholic Church and Dalai Lama now agree with the scientific community...<br /><br />VATICAN CITY By NICOLE WINFIELD (AP)-- A Vatican-appointed panel of scientists has reported what climate change experts have been warning for years: the Earth is getting warmer, glaciers are melting, and urgent measures are necessary to stem the damage.<br /><br />The scientists called for urgent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and reductions in methane and other pollutants that warm the air, and for improved observation of mountain glaciers to better track their changes.<br /><br />The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a Vatican advisory panel, hosted a conference last month on the causes and consequences of retreating mountain glaciers. Its final report, dated May 5 and signed by independent glaciologists, climate scientists, meteorologists and chemists, was posted on the Vatican website Tuesday.<br /><br />"We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home," the report said.<br /><br />"We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us."David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999370057102890264.post-33494572648945360652011-04-02T12:10:00.000-07:002011-04-02T12:25:57.075-07:00Dalai Lama and Himalayan Glaciers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-flBldNPiyvk/TZd4MirsJWI/AAAAAAAAAZc/u8Ggj8n9geA/s1600/OneMonk1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 172px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-flBldNPiyvk/TZd4MirsJWI/AAAAAAAAAZc/u8Ggj8n9geA/s200/OneMonk1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591069619267577186" /></a><br />NEW DELHI (AP) -- The Dalai Lama said Saturday that India should be seriously concerned about the melting of glaciers in the Tibetan plateau as millions of Indians use water that comes from there.<br /><br />The Tibetan spiritual leader quoted Chinese experts as saying that the Tibetan glaciers were retreating faster than any elsewhere in the world.<br /><br />He called for special attention to ecology in Tibet. "It's something very, very essential," he said.<br /><br />The glaciers are considered vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be threatened.<br /><br />As these major rivers come from the Tibetan plateau and "since millions of Indians use water coming from the Himalayan glacier, so you have certain right to show your concern about ecology of that plateau," the Dalai Lama told an audience of about 400 Indians.<br /><br />"India, a free country, I think should express more serious concern, that's I think important. This is nothing to do with politics, just everybody's interest, including Chinese people also," he said.<br /><br />Rising demand has put a strain on access to freshwater in India and China – which are home to more than a third of the world's population.David Thoresonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15777238284127153523noreply@blogger.com0