Category Archives: Polar

It melts from the top too …

Posted on 5 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By David Ferreira The global sea level rises at about 3 mm/year. Oceans absorb nearly 90% of the heat trapped in the atmosphere by anthropogenic gases like carbon dioxide. As water warms, it expands: this effect explains about half of … Continue reading →

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Potential links between Arctic sea ice loss and mid-latitude weather: revisiting an influential earlier study

Posted on 1 May, 2017 by Stephen Burt

by Len Shaffrey The Arctic is changing rapidly due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Arctic sea ice extent has been declining by 12% per decade since reliable satellite estimates began in 1979. By summer 2012, Arctic sea ice extent … Continue reading →

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Melt ponds over Arctic sea ice

Posted on 27 March, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Daniela Flocco Melt ponds develop over Arctic sea ice during the melting season from the accumulation of melt water from ice and snow. These have become increasingly important over the last few decades because they have been more prevalent … Continue reading →

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Polar Prediction School

Posted on 25 April, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Jonny Day During the last 2 weeks Dr Jonny Day spent two weeks lecturing and coordinating a Polar Prediction School for graduate students and early career researchers. The school is a joint initiative from the World Weather Research Programme … Continue reading →

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What’s happening in the Arctic sky?

Posted on 15 February, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Michaela Hegglin Meteorologists may say clouds are all about weather, but they sure aren’t, or at least not all of them! This late winter, people watching the sky in northern England witnessed spectacular appearances of nacreous clouds, also referred … Continue reading →

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The melting of Arctic sea ice and the future of trans-Arctic shipping

Posted on 21 December, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Keith Haines Most people will be familiar with news of the changing conditions in the Arctic where climate change seems to be at its fastest. The loss of sea ice each summer seems to show a rapidly declining trend, … Continue reading →

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Projecting climate changes for the Earth System

Posted on 7 December, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Robin Smith With the COP21 UN climate change conference going on in Paris, questions about how the global environment will change in the coming decades and what impact that will have on the people and communities that live in … Continue reading →

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Can declines in Arctic sea ice impact the weather over Europe?

Posted on 20 July, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Ruth Petrie Dramatic declines in Arctic sea ice have been observed over the past few decades. In the 1980s it was typical that at the September minimum there would be between 6.5 and 8 million km2 of sea ice; … Continue reading →

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Sea Ice: a story of cracks

Posted on 22 June, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Harry Heorton Ice, on a scale you can hold in your hands, is a brittle material. When it deforms it cracks into smaller pieces. Imagine hitting an ice cube with a hammer: lots of smaller pieces of ice. They … Continue reading →

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Why Arctic melting will be erratic in the short term

Posted on 9 February, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Ed Hawkins Arctic sea ice melts each summer, reaching its minimum extent some time in September, before refreezing through the winter. Over the past 35 years, the September sea ice extent has reduced by about 35% overall and this … Continue reading →

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