Talking about the Arctic with NOAA Administrator Lubchenco
Featured Article, December 6, 2012
Brian Kahn
It may seem remote from our everyday lives, but the Arctic exerts a powerful influence on the rest of the planet. From rising sea level, to U.S. and European weather, to bird migrations, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco describes how Arctic climate change can influence the rest of the planet.
December 5, 2012 NOAA Climate.gov team
The central Arctic was not as unusually warm in 2012 as it has been in many years this decade, and yet new records were set for sea ice extent, terrestrial snow extent, melting at the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, and permafrost temperature. According to the 2012 Arctic Report Card, these converging indicators “provide strong evidence of the momentum that has developed in the Arctic environmental system due to the impacts of a persistent warming trend that began over 30 years ago.”
Melt pond “skylights” enable massive under-ice bloom in Arctic
December 5, 2012 Rebecca Lindsey
Shallow melt ponds on the surface of consolidated sea ice act as skylights that promote massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms. These under-ice blooms may boost estimates of Arctic phytoplankton productivity by a factor of 10.
Less glitter: Greenland Ice Sheet continued to darken in summer 2012
December 5, 2012 Michon Scott, Rebecca Lindsey
Melt ponds, snow loss, and other warming-induced changes are making the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet far less reflective in the summer than it was even a decade ago. The darker ice surface absorbs more sunlight than it once did, accelerating warming and melting.
Summer 2012 brought record-breaking melt to Greenland
December 5, 2012 Michon Scott - National Snow and Ice Data Center
The summer of 2012 brought Greenland far more extensive melt than anything observed in the satellite record: in July 2012, surface melt extended over nearly the entire ice sheet. The standardized melt index was nearly double the previous record.
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It’s natural to associate drought with heat and with summer, but drought also impacts us during winter months. Winter wheat yields are declining, and the Mississippi River is approaching an all-time low. Understanding drought conditions and how they are affecting us is part of being “climate smart.”
Resilience and Energy: Coastal Management Ensures Supply
Port Fourchon sits on the very edge of the country, all the better for vessels shuttling supplies to and from deepwater oil platforms across miles and miles of ocean. Keeping it open is a big deal because the port services 90 percent of all deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Port Director Chett Chiasson tours the harbor while discussing the importance of preparedness, adaptation, and resilience.
Windell’s Levee: Protecting a Coastal Community
Life in Fourchon Parrish, Louisiana is good. Abundant shrimp, crabs, oysters, and access to the Gulf of Mexico make this an attractive place to live and work. But increasingly, life on the coast introduces difficult challenges. Building levees and re-engineering drainage systems are some of the near-term ways people are adapting to a changing landscape. But will they, too, retreat inland, leaving the coast to time and tides?
November 2012 U.S. climate update: word of the month is “dry”
Dec 6th, 2012
November precipitation was nearly an inch below the long-term average in the U.S., making this the eighth-driest November on record. Not surprisingly, drought expanded and worsened as a result.
