Re:Global sea ice records broken again
by DennisP on Sunday January 15, 2017 @10:16AM
(#13404330)
0.2 degrees is the global average temperature change over the last year. What matters to the arctic is the temperature in the arctic, which has gone up a lot more than that.
More importantly, the graph shows area. It doesn't show thickness, which has been steadily decreasing for decades. Now the ice is quite thin, so it doesn't have to thin much more for the area to drop rapidly.
If you want to read about the physical processes in detail, and find out why a large sudden drop in ice area due to global warming isn't surprising at all, read A Farewell to Ice by arctic researcher Peter Wadham.
More importantly, the graph shows area. It doesn't show thickness, which has been steadily decreasing for decades. Now the ice is quite thin, so it doesn't have to thin much more for the area to drop rapidly.
If you want to read about the physical processes in detail, and find out why a large sudden drop in ice area due to global warming isn't surprising at all, read A Farewell to Ice by arctic researcher Peter Wadham.