The Arctic sea ice is providing clues to the Earth's overall climatic condition. Image: NASA
The geographic North Pole was last covered with water about 50 million years ago, during the early part of the present Cenozoic Era. Known as the Age of Mammals and the Recent Life Era, this modern...
Sep
11
It has been said that the frozen parts of our planet, also known as the cryosphere, may be the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’ when it comes to climate change. This video shows some of the most dramatic fluctuations to our cryosphere in recent years using visuals created with a...
Sep
03
Photo by Jeremy Potter, NOAA/OAR/OER.
The blanket of ice coating Earth’s northernmost seas was thin and ragged in July, setting a record low for sea ice extent for the month. Sea ice stretched across only 3.06 million square miles; the long-term July average is 3.9 million. The photo above...
Aug
24
The Arctic ice cap is melting faster than most models can keep up with. Already this winter, the ice cap reached it smallest extent for its winter maximum coverage ever, tying the 2006 winter season. Is it simply part of Earth’s continuing evolution, human-induced global warming or both...
Apr
04
Scientists have announced the maximum 2011 Arctic sea ice extent occurred on March 7, apparently the smallest winter extent ever. The orange line shows the median extent for 1970-2000. (Source: NSIDC)
The Arctic ice cap is shrinking, year by year, in a trend that many scientists say will lead to a...
Mar
28
Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change.
Feb
04
Arctic sea ice extent for December 2010 was the lowest in the satellite record for that month. These record low ice conditions are linked to particularly strong high pressure over the polar region (what scientists call negative Arctic Oscillation phase), which was similar to the conditions that...
Feb
02
Emperor penguins could be headed toward extinction in at least part of their range before the end of the century, according to a recent study by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Breeding pairs of the Emperor penguin may fall to 400 by the end of the century.
If climate change continues...
Jan
24
