5/15/12, "Global temperature and Arctic ice update," BBC, Paul Hudson
"Significantly, April Arctic sea ice was close to the 1979-2012 average, and the highest in April for over 10 years, shown below.
Experts though reported that much of the ice cover was thin, indeed since the end of April ice extent has fallen sharply."
Source web page, NSIDC.org, Arctic Sea Ice News
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Note: Mr. Hudson says some say ice cover is thin, but commenter adds actual scientific data:
"There is a good amount of 2 metre plus ice this year according to this US navy site.
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticictn_nowcast_anim30d.gif
And according to Nansen ice area and extent still pretty much on the longer term average so the claim of ice extent falling sharply seems premature.
http://arctic-roos.org/observations/satellite-data/sea-ice/ice-area-and-extent-in-arctic
Also the sea ice anomaly via the Cryosphere not looking that large either.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.arctic.png
Could be an interesting season, although current levels are normally considered a poor predictive guide to the peak summer melt, however, a staff member at NSIDC did predict an ice free or nearly ice free summer this year a few years back. Interesting times. :)"
ARCTIC ICE THICKNESS 'NOWCAST' from US Navy:
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"25. At 10:54 16th May 2012, ukpahonta wrote:
This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071212-AP-arctic-melt.html
One wonders why such an organisation would report it unless it was an effort, much like the sensationalism expected within red top tabloids, to increase sales."
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