Category Archives: Polar

How to improve a climate model: a 24-year journey from observing melt ponds to their inclusion in climate simulations

By: David Schroeder Melt ponds are puddles of water that form on top of sea ice when the snow and ice melts (see Figure). Not all the water drains immediately into the ocean, but it can stay and accumulate on … Continue reading

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Investigating the Dark Caverns of Antarctica

By: Ryan Patmore I am an Oceanographer and I occasionally spend my time trying to find the best ways of understanding the point where ice meets the ocean. This naturally draws me to Antarctica – covered in penguins, yes, but … Continue reading

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Oceanic Influences On Arctic And Antarctic Sea Ice

By: Jake Aylmer The futures of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are difficult to pin down in part due to climate model uncertainty. Recent work reveals different ocean behaviours that have a critical impact on sea ice, highlighting a potential … Continue reading

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Antarctic Sea Ice: The Global Climate Driver Of The South

By: Holly Ayres In the Northern Hemisphere, our closest region of sea ice (not to be confused with land ice) is the Arctic, a vast region of frozen ocean at the North Pole. Antarctica, a huge mountainous land mass at … Continue reading

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Why should we care about sea ice floes?

By: Adam Bateson One of the most frequently used visual devices to illustrate climate change is that of a polar bear on sea ice surrounded by open ocean (Fig. 1). Polar bears are today identified as a vulnerable species, with sea ice decline the … Continue reading

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Regional vs Global Models From The Perspective of a Polar Climate Scientist

By: Charlotte Lang There is a debate in the world of polar climate and ice sheet surface modelling about global (GCM) versus regional (RCM) models and each side is trying to convince the other that they do better: global modellers … Continue reading

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The Future of Arctic Sea Ice

By: Rebecca Frew It is well documented in scientific studies and the news (recent example here) that the summer extent of Arctic sea ice has been declining rapidly in response to global warming. As the summer sea ice shrinks and … Continue reading

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Cold Winter Weather: Despite or Because of Global Warming?

By: Marlene Kretschmer This year’s winter was cold. There was heavy snowfall across the UK, Europe and parts of the United States including Texas. This severe weather came with significant societal and economic impacts. Every time cold extremes like this … Continue reading

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Large and irreversible future decline of the Greenland ice-sheet

By: Jonathan Gregory Sea-level rise is one of the most serious consequences of global warming. By the end of this century, if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to increase (mostly carbon dioxide, from burning oil, natural gas and coal), global … Continue reading

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Are Eurasian winter cooling and Arctic Sea ice loss dynamically connected?

By: Rohit Gosh The observed sea ice concentration (SIC) in the Arctic has been declining in recent decades. Temperatures have been rising all over the planet, but warming has been much faster over the Arctic, a phenomenon known as Arctic … Continue reading

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