Polar regions

James Ross island, Antarctic PeninsulaThis study analysing an Antarctic Peninsula ice core from James Ross island has determined that there has been a ten fold increase in melt intensity over the last 600 years. I reported recently that the Antarctic Peninsula summer melt season prolonged by global warming according to research from the British Antarctic Survey.

"The warming has occurred in progressive phases since about AD 1460, but intensification of melt is nonlinear, and has largely occurred since the mid-twentieth century. Summer melting is now at a level that is unprecedented over the past 1,000 years. We conclude that ice on the Antarctic Peninsula is now particularly susceptible to rapid increases in melting and loss in response to relatively small increases in mean temperature." concludes the study.

It seems the genetics of the Antarctic Octopus is showing us how fragile the West Antarctic Ice sheet (WAIS) may be with global warming. It raising questions about the ice sheet susceptibility to collapse.

The melt season on the Antarctic Peninsula has been getting much longer over the last 60 years, at some locations doubling in length according to the research lead by Dr Nick Barrand of the British Antarctic Survey. Increased melting season increases the melting stress of ice shelves which hold back significant glacier discharge and sea level rise.

Related: Global Warming on West Antarctic Ice Sheet three times the global average | Global Warming in Antarctica: Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers accelerating, West Antarctic Ice Sheet losing mass | Waking the giant: Global Warming in the Weddell Sea, West Antarctic Ice Sheet and sea level rise | Why sea ice extent in Antarctica is growing slightly | On the brink: Penguins face an uncertain climate future

The diminishing Arctic sea-ice extent is resulting in changes in how greenhouse gases interact between the land, ocean and atmosphere according to a new study.

"Changes in the balance of greenhouse gases can have major consequences because, globally, plants and the oceans absorb around half of the carbon dioxide that humans release into the air through the use of fossil fuels. If the Arctic component of this buffer changes, so will the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere", says Dr Frans-Jan Parmentier, a researcher at Lund University, Sweden, and lead author of the study.

Satellite data for the first several weeks of 2013 is showing that melting is occurring in south east Greenland. In summer this would be expected, but January-February is the dead of winter. Some portions of Greenland have experienced more than 30 days of melting since the start of this year, a worrying trend.

According to email correspondence with Ted Scambos from National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) sent to Tom Yulsman, all of Greenland has been 2 to 6 degrees C warmer than the 30 year mean. Tom quotes Ted Scambos on his blog: "Air temperatures along the southeastern coast for the period Feb 10 – 15 are running 2 to 6 C above normal. Nuuk, the capital, on the very southern west coast, is currently just a couple of degrees below freezing."

Related: Is Climate Change causing an exponential rate of Ice sheet Mass Loss, sea level rise? | Global Warming threshold for Greenland Ice Sheet collapse reduced to 1.6 degrees C

Kulluk and life rafts: Arial survey of Kulluk and life rafts - U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter.The Shell Corporation oil drilling rig Kulluk remains grounded, pounded by rough seas. Salvage teams have landed on the vessel and carried out an initial examination and assessment. There are worries that release of contaminants may foul the sensitive coastline which includes the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge containing two endangered species, and a cultural and archeologically significant site - Refuge rock. Greenpeace alledges Shell’s 2013 Arctic drilling program is 'on the brink' after a series of technical problems and failures with equipment this year.

There are approximately 143,000 gallons of diesel and 12,000 gallons of hydraulic oil on board the Kulluk, an aging drill rig built in 1983. Weighing almost 28,000 tonnes, the rig had been due for scrapping before Shell bought it in 2005 and the company has since spent $292 million to upgrade the vessel.

It has already been revealed that Shell was moving the drilling rig from Alaska to Seattle, Washington to avoid about $6 million in property taxes that would be due on January 1st.

It seems the Shell Oil Company decision to move the oil drilling platform ship, Kulluk, to Seattle was corporate greed to try and avoid paying Alaskan State taxes. If the rig was in Alaska on January 1st, about $6 millions of taxes would be due to the state of Alaska.

Kulluk grounded on Kodiak Island: Photo courtesy of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg/U.S. Coast GuardShell has plans for drilling several exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas area off the north coast of Alaska. The grounding of the Kulluk circular oil drilling ship on Sitkalidak Island while being towed in heavy seas must call into question whether safety measures by Shell and Coast Guard response capabilities are adequate to allow Arctic drilling to proceed.It now seems that Shell risked moving drill ship in storm to avoid paying millions in taxes, and their weather judgement to move the rig is questionable. Shell and the US Coast Guard have started salvage operations on the stranded drilling rig.

Initial approval for oil drilling by Shell Oil was given by the Obama administration in August 2012 despite opposition by numerous conservation groups and a petition of over a million US citizens. To preserve a safe climate based upon the simple climate maths of how much fossil fuels we can afford to burn, we need to Go Fossil Free through divestment, start taxing carbon and leave the oil reserves beneath the Arctic alone.

Related: Greenpeace - Save The Arctic | Sierra Club - Chill the Drills: Protect America's Arctic! | Center for Biological Diversity - Arctic Oil Development | Alaska Despatch - U.S.: Shell’s grounded drilling rig raises questions | DeSmogBlog - Shell’s Kulluk Rig Grounding Proves Folly of Arctic Oil Drilling, Again

Background: ClimateIMC July 2011 - Smears on integrity of Polar wildlife scientist a prelude to Arctic Oil Drilling | London Indymedia Sept 2012 - Activists 'brick up' Shell HQ as the Arctic melts | Indymedia Ireland Sept 2012 - 1,600 billion - Massive scale of oil giveaway revealed in Shell to Sea report | Sourcewatch on Shell

Greenland Ice Mass change rate 2012Climate scientist James Hansen and his colleague Makiko Sato have released a new discussion paper with updated data on ice sheet mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica, with implications for possible multi-metre sea level rise this century. It makes for some interesting reading - there is a link to Hansen's website and the paper at the end.

The thesis that Hansen has put forward for several years is that Ice Sheet collapse is a non-linear process: that with the inclusion of amplifying climate feedbacks it is likely to follow an exponential rate of acceleration - a doubling rate. It might be a 10 year doubling time, or less. This will lead to extensive sea level rise, perhaps in the order of 5 metres this century.

Related: Matt Owens on Direct impacts to US GDP: that direct losses could top 1/4 trillion per year during 2040-2050

Original article from San Fransisco Bay Area Indymedia, Dec 23rd, 2012 7:16 PM: The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is warming at three times the global average, according to temperature measurements at Byrd Polar Station. This has implications for the melting of the West Antarctic Ice sheet (WAIS) and sea level rise.