2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #4

Posted on 28 January 2023 by John Hartz

Story of the Week

New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing Later 

Climate change is affecting the timing of both the freezing of the ice and its melting in the spring.

Photo by Roxanne Desgagnés on Unsplash

Scientists have known for years that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world—nearly four times faster, according to a recent study. Tracking that warming is critical to understanding climate change not just in the Arctic but around the world. New data and analysis are crucial.

Now, an international team of scientists has compiled data from 2001 to 2018 to explore both surface and basal freezing/thaw cycles and uncover the mechanisms behind them. These findings could improve our understanding of changes in the atmosphere–ice–ocean system and the balance of sea ice in the Arctic.

The new study was published in November in the European Geosciences Union publication The Cryosphere, helping scientists understand when Arctic ice might disappear altogether in the summer. 

The study looks at both the surface ice, which is measured primarily by satellites, and the ice underneath, which is measured by sonar and by acoustic doppler profilers, which use sound waves to measure the speed of currents around the water column and other data. Cables extended from surface buoys into the below-ice water feed sonar data to the buoys and reveal important information about the freeze-thaw cycle, including timing. 

“Timing is really critical, and this shows that the timing is changing,” said Dartmouth Professor Donald K. Perovich, one of the study’s five authors.

Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the Inside Climate News website.

New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing Later by Charlie Miller, Science, Inside Climate News, Jan 23, 2023

Links posted on Facebook

Sun, Jan 22, 2023

• 5 myths about gas stoves, the latest culture war clash by Rebecca Leber, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 20, 2023
• This Winter’s Rain and Snow Won’t be Enough to Pull the West Out of Drought by Alex Hager, Science, KUNC/Inside Climate News, Jan 21, 2023
• ‘Climate deniers are victims not villains’: A psychologist’s guide to winning them over by Jessica Kleczka, EuroNews.Green, Jan 22, 2023
• Shell to spend $450m on carbon offsetting as fears grow that credits may be worthless by Alex Lawson & Patrick Greenfield, Environment, The Guardian, Jan 19, 2023

Mon, Jan 23, 2023

• Global environmental developments in December 2022 by Burak Bir, Anadolu Agency (AA), Jan 21, 2023
• How food labels can help tackle climate change by Pol Allingham, Climate, The Independent (UK), Jan 21, 2023
• New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing Later by Charlie Miller, Science, Inside Climate News, Jan 23, 2023
• A third of people are changing their plans for the future because of climate change by Charlotte Elton, EuroNews.Green, Jan 23, 2023

Tue, Jan 24, 2023,

• Guest post: Can ‘green hydrogen’ grow fast enough for 1.5C? by Adrian Odenweller & Dr Falko Ueckerdt, Carbon Brief, Jan 23, 2023
• Earth kept warming last year, continuing a 40-year trend by David Boraks, WHQR Public Media News (Wilmington, DE), Jan 23, 2023
•  by ClimateDenierRoundup, Daily Kos, Jan 24, 2023
• Depleted Under Trump, a ‘Traumatized’ E.P.A. Struggles With Its Mission by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Jan 23, 2023