Some what similar to the "Shrinking ice, rising oceans" etc topic in the old php board.

Science 'javelins' spear Pine Island Glacier

UK scientists have developed an air-dropped projectile to put instruments in some of the most inaccessible places in Antarctica.

Twenty-five of the "javelins" are currently sticking in Pine Island Glacier (PIG), one of the continent's biggest and fastest-moving ice streams.

The PIG has many deep crevasses that are too dangerous to traverse.

The British Antarctic Survey's spears have been equipped with GPS to track the PIG's progression towards the sea.

"Our javelins mean we can now instrument areas that were previously out of reach," said Dr Hilmar Gudmundsson.

"And in Pine Island Glacier, we are monitoring the region of Antarctica where the greatest changes are taking place," the BAS glaciologist told BBC News.

Greenland�s ice sheet is melting fast

By Spencer Hunt
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday 21 April 2013

Greenland�s ice sheet is melting fast, and Jason Box can�t wait for a government research grant to get him there. To fund his 24th expedition, Box, a climatologist at the Geologic Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen, is trying something new. Crowd funding. Box, who had worked at Ohio State University�s Byrd Polar Research Center, hopes to raise $150,000 on the Internet. It�s the same method that entrepreneurs, independent moviemakers and others use to raise money for their projects.

The idea is that anyone can invest a little or a lot and become a stakeholder in the work. As spending cuts make government research grants harder to come by, crowd funding websites are increasingly hosting pitches to advance the cause of science. For example, investors can help fund studies of asexual Ohio salamanders or predators that feed on Alaska salmon. One OSU researcher promises to name a new species of parasitic plant after the first $10,000 donor.

read more here ...

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/04/21/projects-get-funding-from-public.html

thank you Les for this is a great thread.

Tracking Greenland�s fast-melting ice sheets


The problem is one of degrees. While Greenland ranks among the coldest spots on Earth, it is getting warmer. How much warmer? In July, orbiting satellites recorded unprecedented above-freezing temperatures spanning Greenland�s ice sheet, which is three times larger than Texas.

The development, which carries troubling implications for sea levels, was something that climatologist Jason Box saw coming. In fact, he described it in the journal Cryosphere in February 2012.

�It was an elementary prediction,� said Box, a professor at the Geologic Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen. �The snow pack could not endure another similar summer without melting.� The problem was Box, who had been a researcher at Ohio State University�s Byrd Polar Research Center, and other climatologists thought that melting across the entire sheet would occur sometime in the next 10 years.

Now he is itching to go back to Greenland where he can test a new theory about the thaw. On his 24th expedition to Greenland, which he hopes to start by June, he wants to examine how black carbon affects melting. They are the tiny soot particles carried by global winds from distant wildfires, power plants and car engines.

read more here ...

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2013/04/21/tracking-greenlands-fast-melting-ice-sheets.html

NASA's and ESA's ... Airborne Mission for Earth's Polar Ice Ice Bridge - Artic 2013


Steensby Glacier flows around a sharp bend in a deep canyon.
The glacier is located at 81 degrees north in Nyboe Land and flows into the St. Georges Fjord.

Operation IceBridge completed their 10th high-priority sea ice flight, coordinated with a European Space Agency satellite team, expanded the mission's reach in the Arctic, revisited sites measured in years past and studied a new feature in the ice with a series of flights Apr. 24-26.

On Apr. 24 the NASA P-3B left Thule Air Base and headed north for a survey transecting the geographic North Pole. This mission is a repeat from 2012 and aims at measuring sea ice between Ellesmere Island and the North Pole. A few days prior this flight was briefly considered but not flown because of unfavorable weather in the region and a lack of suitable orbital passes by ESA's CryoSat-2 satellite. One of IceBridge's science requirements is to gather ice data around the same time and place as other missions. Over the past several campaigns NASA and ESA researchers have worked together to coordinate IceBridge flights and CryoSat-2 orbits. With clear weather the team collected a great deal of sea ice data and managed a coordinating pass with CryoSat-2 on an orbit similar to the line flown last year. "We owe a big thank you to the CryoSat-2 team from ESA for excellent coordination," said Michael Studinger, IceBridge's project scientist. "Without their support we would not have been able to do these underflights."

During the Apr. 22 flight over the Canada Basin, IceBridge researchers collected sea ice thickness measurements in an area that has been relatively unsurveyed in the past. On Apr. 25, researchers returned to the Canada Basin to fly a survey line south of the previous flight, improving the geographic coverage of IceBridge's datasets. This mission marked the 25th science flight of the campaign and the 10th and final high-priority sea ice survey in the Arctic for 2013.

Read more about NASA and ESA's Ice Bridge 2013 Arctic campaign here

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/index.html

Arctic Ocean 'acidifying rapidly'

The Arctic seas are being made rapidly more acidic by carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new report.

Scientists from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) monitored widespread changes in ocean chemistry in the region.

They say even if CO2 emissions stopped now, it would take tens of thousands of years for Arctic Ocean chemistry to revert to pre-industrial levels.

Many creatures, including commercially valuable fish, could be affected.

_


Here is a little more information about NASA�s Operation IceBridge - - Re: my post of 2 May 2013 in Message 46150

NASA�s Operation IceBridge Mission Statement

NASA�s Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of earth�s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions.

http://icebridge.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Antarctic flood produces 'ice crater'

Scientists have seen evidence for a colossal flood under Antarctica that drained six billion tonnes of water, quite possibly straight to the ocean.

The cause is thought to be a deeply buried lake that suddenly over-topped.

Satellites were used to map the crater that developed as the 2.7km-thick overlying ice sheet slumped to fill the void left by the escaping water.

The peak discharge would have been more than double the normal flow rate of London's River Thames, researchers say.

The location of the flood was Cook Sub-Glacial Lake (SGL) in the east of the continent, and the event itself occurred over a period of about 18 months in 2007-2008.

Antarctic's Pine Island glacier produces giant iceberg

Pine Island glacier (PIG), the longest and fastest flowing glacier in the Antarctic, has spawned a huge iceberg.

The block measures about 720 sq km in area - roughly eight times the size of Manhattan Island in New York.

Scientists have been waiting for the PIG to calve since October 2011 when they first noticed a spectacular crack spreading across its surface.

Confirmation that the fissure had extended the full width of the glacier was obtained on Monday.

It was seen by the German TerraSAR-X satellite.

This carries a radar instrument that can detect the surface of the ice stream even though the Antarctic is currently in the grip of winter darkness.

Arctic methane 'time bomb' could have huge economic costs

Scientists say that the release of large amounts of methane from thawing permafrost in the Arctic could have huge economic impacts for the world.

The researchers estimate that the climate effects of the release of this gas could cost $60 trillion (�39 trillion), roughly the size of the global economy in 2012.

The impacts are most likely to be felt in developing countries they say.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Study to focus on Arctic after Greenland Sea found to have warmed 10 times faster than global ocean

Scientists have revealed plans to examine temperature changes in the Arctic Ocean after a long-term study found the Greenland Sea is warming 10 times faster than the global ocean.

Scientists from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) analysed temperature data from the Greenland Sea between 1950 and 2010.

Their results show that during the past 30 years water temperatures between two kilometres deep and the ocean floor have risen by 0.3 degrees Celsius.

Dr Raquel Somavilla Cabrillo, AWI scientist and lead author of the study, says researchers are surprised by the results.

"For a long time it was considered that the deep Arctic region was in a stationary state ...[but] much more than we thought is changing," she said.

mediamatters.org

Despite the overwhelming consensus among climate experts that human activity is contributing to rising global temperatures, 66 percent of humanity incorrectly believe there is "a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening." The conservative media has fueled this confusion by distorting scientific research, hyping faux-scandals, and giving voice to groups funded by industries that have a financial interest in blocking action on climate change. Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets have shied away from the "controversy" over climate change and have failed to press U.S. policymakers on how they will address this global threat. When climate change is discussed, mainstream outlets sometimes strive for a false balance that elevates marginal voices and enables them to sow doubt about the science even in the face of mounting evidence.

Here, Media Matters looks at how conservative media outlets give industry-funded "experts" a platform, creating a polarized misunderstanding of climate science.

Meet The Climate Denial Machine:

• Heartland Institute And James Taylor
  
  
• Competitive Enterprise Institute
  
  
• Chris Horner And The American Tradition Institute
  
  
• Manhattan Institute And Robert Bryce
  
  
• Heritage Foundation
  
  
• Cato Institute And Patrick Michaels
  
  
• American Enterprise Institute
  
  
• Marc Morano
  
  
• Anthony Watts
  
  
• Steve Milloy
  
  
• Joe Bastardi
  
  
• Matt Ridley
  
  
• Larry Bell
  

Climate change: How do we know?

The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era � and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth�s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. Studying these climate data collected over many years reveal the signals of a changing climate.

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples
contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements,
provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased
since the Industrial Revolution.

Source: NOAA



Certain facts about Earth's climate are not in dispute:
Read more here here
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Underwater robot produces first precise map of Antarctic sea ice depth

An underwater robot first sent out four years ago has returned the first high-resolution 3D maps of Antarctic sea ice, providing a better snapshot of the impact of climate change.

....
....

The report detailed how an underwater robot, or Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, which was sent out to east and west Antarctica in 2010 and 2012 had delivered the first extensive and precise measurements of Antarctic sea ice.

Co-author Dr Guy Williams from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies said the results found sea ice depths ranged from about one metre to 15 metre.

"We had average flow thickness between 1.5 metres to up to 5 metres, and in some places the thickness was up to 10 metres to a maximum of 15," he said.

Antarctica's Totten Glacier, twice the size of Victoria, 'melting from below'

Warm ocean water is melting one of the world's biggest glaciers from below, potentially leading to a rise in sea levels, Australian scientists have discovered.

Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis recently returned to Hobart from Antarctica, with a team of 23 scientists who had used new technology to collect the first water samples near the Totten Glacier.

At 538,000 square kilometres, Totten is twice the size of Victoria and holds enough water to raise sea levels by six metres.

Steve Rintoul from the Australian Climate and Environment Cooperative Research Centre said the results indicated the glacier was being melted by the sea water beneath it.

"The measurements we collected provide the first evidence that warm water reaches the glacier and may be driving that melt of the glacier from below," he said.

Antarctic ice shelves thinning more rapidly than scientists thought, research published in Science shows

New research shows Antarctic ice shelves thinned rapidly in the last decade and much faster than scientists had thought.

The study, published in the journal Science, looked at satellite data dating back to 1994 and found that some Antarctic ice shelves had melted by almost 20 per cent.

Scientists said it was important long-term research that further confirmed the erosion of the West Antarctic shelves.

Tasmanian researchers in Antarctica trial world-first use of sonar technology to monitor glacial melting

The researchers from the Australian Maritime College (AMC) used a device lowered underwater to send sonar signals through the side of a glacier to help map its internal structure.

"It's almost like an X-ray, it's showing you where the hard and soft parts are within this glacier," AMC engineer Isak Bowden-Floyd said.

"It'll release a burst of sound and the sound will penetrate through the features and when it hits a hard feature it'll reflect and be captured by the receivers.

"If there are any hard returns, like sea water which might be caused by fractures, it'll give an indication of exactly where they are and what they look like."

The research team spent one month on board the Korea Polar Research Institute's icebreaker RV Araon trialling the technology alongside the Drygalski Ice Tongue in Antarctica.

Antarctic scientists monitoring clouds to better understand weather, improve forecasting

World-leading cloud research at Macquarie Island will improve weather forecasting and warnings in the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic scientists say.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) on board French vessel L'Astrolabe will set up atmospheric instruments on the island to collect data from clouds over a year.

Dr Simon Alexander, is an atmospheric climate scientist with the AAD and said the research was unprecedented in this part of the world.

"This is world-leading research, I've brought together a team of researchers from around the world who are contributing different instruments to this Macquarie Island campaign," he said.

The group of five scientists will use equipment which includes a cloud lidar (surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light), cloud radar and a microwave radiometer to measure the clouds from near the surface and up to 10 kilometres in altitude.

Seals help show how melting ice shelves in East Antarctica affect deep ocean

An international team of researchers led by Dr Guy Williams of the University of Tasmania analysed temperature and salinity data captured by sensors attached to the elephant seals.

The data, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows how melting ice shelves in Prydz Bay in East Antarctica are interfering with the production of Antarctic bottom water.

Bottom water is formed when seas around Antarctica freeze over in winter causing salt to leach out of the sea ice. This process forms dense surface water that eventually sinks to form cold dense water that sits in the abyssal zone 4,000 metres to 6,000 metres below the surface.

Not about research, but some nice photos.

Antarctic photographic exhibition showcases spectacular icy wilderness