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Look at the graying areas on the top graphic, coded as <100% ice on the bottom graphic. So much broken ice -- so early in the season!
My first thought: this couldn't be from the air temperature alone; there must be a thermohaline-mediated effect failing to remove the heat (little though it may be) in the water, or perhaps moving warmer water in from the ocean bottom north of Russia and Scandinavia.
Then I thought, "I don't have enough knowledge to say, either way. Perhaps an oceanologist would."
Third round: "This is probably an entirely new phenomenon, so the oceanologists would be in the dark, too." Just not as much in the dark as me.
Next thought: is this going to start driving winter weather? My wild-assed guess is that as worming continues, a paradoxically warm area will form in the Arctic that becomes a strong meteorological driver from September to January. A similar effect can be seen with lake-effect blizzards on the eastern edges of the Great Lakes, Lakes Baikal and Manitoba, and probably a number of other northern lakes. In colder times, the Great Lake snows ended by early January when the lakes (especially Lake Erie) froze over, but last year, it was an all-winter thing.
I myself like the snow, but I'd rather have had an episode of 0.2°C global cooling instead. White Christmases, no desertification.
What are your odds for a patent, navigable North Pole this year? I had been thinking 30% or less, but now it looks like it will be navigable by August 20th. There may even be (a) substantial polynya(s) to survive the winter.
--p!
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