Word: arctics
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...scientists studying the health of Arctic sea ice, satellite observations are absolutely essential for providing the big picture. It was satellites that revealed in September 2007 a record minimum ice coverage in the region - the result of a massive summer melt. And it was satellites that showed in 2008 and 2009 the modest recovery of late-summer Arctic ice that suggested to some that the specter of a totally ice-free polar ocean might be somewhat less imminent than feared...
...those high-altitude observations need occasional reality checks from scientists down on the surface. It was during one such on-the-ground research expedition last fall that David Barber, an Arctic climatologist at the University of Manitoba, got an unwelcome surprise. (See pictures of the Arctic...
...Geophysical Review Letters, the analysis of what the satellites were seeing was wrong. Some of what satellites identified as thick, melt-resistant multiyear ice turned out to be, in Barber's words, "full of holes, like Swiss cheese. We haven't seen this sort of thing before." (Read "Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska...
...findings add another wrinkle to a problem climate scientists have been warning about since the record melt of 2007: after each summer meltback, the Arctic Ocean refreezes completely in winter. The problem is that much of that refreezing creates a relatively thin layer of so-called first-year ice. "It's weaker than thick, multiyear ice," says University of Colorado scientist James Maslanik, "and less resistant to melting...
...groves. Located in Polk County, which produces more citrus fruit than any place in the U.S., Frostproof got its name in the 1890s, when its trees were somehow spared some of that decade's citrus-killing winter freezes. But the moniker has been sorely tested during this month's Arctic blast, not so much because of the plummeting nighttime temps but because of how long they're lasting this year - almost two continuous weeks so far. And that has Florida farmers as well as American consumers fretful about lower harvests and higher prices for everything from orange juice to strawberries...