February 14th

planetark.org

 A BBC news correspondent has released another report about the recent rapid decline in Arctic sea-ice. Follow the link here. Have you ever thought how mankind would handle a higher water level?

In 1893, the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen ventured through the "titanic forces" of the ice, amid the "howlings and thunderings" of the floes splitting around his ship. When he reached 860 north, he found himself in a stretch of open water and wanted to head along the open crack in the ice. He thought he might find land on the cap of the world. Nobody had thought of global warming then. Of course, he didn't find land—only more ice.

zmescience.com

Atlases convey a solid sheet of unbroken white but this frozen ocean is heaving with tides, constantly shifting, breaking apart and reforming, its condition varying year by year. The total dark of the winter guarantees that the ice will reform no matter how much melts. However, the extent of melting ice follows a greater trend over the past three decades.

The Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet and the loss of sea ice affects populations.  The light-colored sea ice bounces back warmth into space. If it disappears, the Arctic Ocean will absorb more heat. That will cause more warming which will in turn contribute to sea level rise. The link between sea ice and the jet stream dominates some of our weather patterns.

www.telegraph.co.uk

London Scientists cannot be sure how much of the Arctic warming is natural and how much it is being driven by manmade climate change. However, data discovered by the Cryosat spacecraft points to a recent decline in the depth of ice covering the Arctic Ocean. Over the past two years of the study, the increased ice growth during winter is not compensating for the summer melt. Techniques have begun to reveal how the changing ice cover might affect the interaction between the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere.

inhabit.com

I am very interested in the subject of what would happen to the Earth after a catastrophic event caused flooding. With my writing partner, Edith Parzefall, I've written a series of five post-apocalyptic books, which take place generations after the Great Flood. The plot doesn't follow the lines of Mad Max or The Book of Eli, where brute force rules and bullies take over. Instead, normal people, displaying varied personality traits and abilities, face the future with courage and band together to rebuild a caring society despite threats from powerful men—ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. You can find two of the published books in the Higher Ground series at the side of the page. The rest are scheduled to follow six months apart.