(Press-News.org) The 2011 Arctic sea ice extent maximum that marks the beginning of the melt season appears to be tied for the lowest ever measured by satellites, say scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The CU-Boulder research team believes the lowest annual maximum ice extent of 5,650,000 square miles occurred on March 7. The maximum ice extent was 463,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average, an area slightly larger than the states of Texas and California combined. The 2011 measurements were tied with those from 2006 as the lowest maximum sea ice extents measured since satellite record keeping began in 1979.
Virtually all climate scientists believe shrinking Arctic sea ice is tied to warming temperatures in the region caused by an increase in human-produced greenhouse gases being pumped into Earth's atmosphere. Because of the spiraling downward trend of Arctic sea ice extent in the last decade, some CU scientists are predicting the Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summers within the next several decades.
The seven lowest maximum Arctic sea ice extents measured by satellites all have occurred in the last seven years, said CU-Boulder Research Scientist Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who participated the latest study. "I'm not surprised by the new data because we've seen a downward trend in winter sea ice extent for some time now."
Scientists believe Arctic sea ice functions like an air conditioner for the global climate system by naturally cooling air and water masses, playing a key role in ocean circulation and reflecting solar radiation back into space, said Meier. In the Arctic summer months, sunlight is absorbed by the growing amounts of open water, raising surface temperatures and causing more ice to melt.
"I think one of the reasons the Arctic sea ice maximum extent is declining is that the autumn ice growth is delayed by warmer temperatures and the ice extent is not able to 'catch up' through the winter," said Meier. "In addition, the clock runs out on the annual ice growth season as temperatures start to rise along with the sun during the spring months."
Since satellite record keeping began in 1979, the maximum Arctic sea ice extent has occurred as early as Feb. 18 and as late as March 31, with an average date of March 6. Since the CU-Boulder researchers determine the maximum sea ice extent using a five-day running average, there is small chance the data could change.
In early April CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center will issue a formal announcement on the 2011 maximum sea ice extent with a full analysis of the winter ice growth season, including graphics comparing 2011 to the long-term record.
###
For more information visit http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews.
Measurements of winter Arctic sea ice shows continuing ice loss, says CU-Boulder study
2011-03-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
An ancestral link between genetic and environmental sex determination
2011-03-25
Researchers from Osaka University and the National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan, have found a highly significant connection between the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic and environmental sex determination. The scientists report in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics the identification of a gene responsible for the production of males during environmental sex determination in the crustacean Daphnia.
Ways in which an individual organism's sex is determined are diverse among animal lineages and can be broadly divided into two major categories: genetic and ...
Not so sweet: Increased added sugars intake parallels trends in weight gain
2011-03-25
Weight gain in adults coincided with increased consumption of added sugars, in a study reported today at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions. Added sugars are sugars and syrups added to foods during processing, preparation, or at the table.
Researchers reviewed added sugars intake and patterns of body weight over 27 years using data collected in the Minnesota Heart Survey, a surveillance study of adults ages 25 to 74 living in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan ...
Tourettes brains are structured for greater, not lesser, cognitive motor control
2011-03-25
Contrary to intuition, people who suffer from the motor and vocal tics characteristic of Tourette syndrome actually perform behavioral tests of cognitive motor control more accurately and quickly than their typically developing peers do. According to evidence reported online on March 24 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that enhanced control arises from structural and functional changes in the brain that likely come about from the need to constantly suppress tics.
"The motor outputs of children with Tourette syndrome are under greater cognitive control," ...
Artifacts in Texas predate Clovis culture by 2,500 years, new study shows
2011-03-25
Researchers in Texas have discovered thousands of human artifacts in a layer of earth that lies directly beneath an assemblage of Clovis relics, expanding evidence that other cultures preceded the Clovis culture in North America. This pre-Clovis toolkit appears to be between 13,200 and 15,500 years old and it includes biface and blade technology that may have later been adapted—and improved upon—by the Clovis culture.
The Clovis people, whose tools were known for their distinctive "fluted" points, were once thought to be the original settlers of North America about 13,000 ...
JackpotCapital.com Online Slots Player Has Incredible $139,957 Winning Streak
2011-03-25
Most regular online slots players have their good nights when they get lucky and have a fun winning streak. But, to win $10,000 or more on every game you try is every online casino player's dream. This dream came true at JackpotCapital.com last week when one lucky player tried six online slot machines during a two-day period and walked away with a total of $139,957.77 in winnings.
"I had played Aladdin's Wishes before. In fact, I had a bit of luck on it last time I played so I started there. I couldn't believe it when I won $29,305!" said the winner from the undisclosed ...
Paleo-Indians settled North America earlier than thought, study suggests
2011-03-25
Researchers excavating a creek bed in central Texas have found evidence suggesting humans settled in North America some two thousand years earlier than previously estimated.
The findings are reported in the March 25 issue of Science.
Earth scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago determined the age using an optical dating technique. They linked sediment and mineral samples to human artifacts and tools found in a single stratigraphic layer located below younger, previously dated Paleo-Indian Clovis-culture artifacts.
Texas A&M University anthropologist Michael ...
Penn researchers uncover novel immune therapy for pancreatic cancer
2011-03-25
PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center have discovered a novel way of treating pancreatic cancer by activating the immune system to destroy the cancer's scaffolding. The strategy was tested in a small cohort of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, several of whose tumors shrank substantially. The team believes their findings – and the novel way in which they uncovered them -- could lead to quicker, less expensive cancer drug development.
The authors call the results, published in the March 25 issue of Science, a big ...
Texas A&M-led study shows earliest American residents came at least 15,500 years ago
2011-03-25
COLLEGE STATION, March 24, 2011— New discoveries at a Central Texas archaeological site by a Texas A&M University-led research team prove that people lived in the region far earlier – as much as 2,500 years earlier – than previously believed, rewriting what anthropologists know about when the first inhabitants arrived in North America. That pushes the arrival date back to about 15,500 years ago.
Michael Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of First Americans, along with researchers from Baylor University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, the University ...
Group Fitness Buying Helps Break the Ice Between Consumer and Merchant
2011-03-25
FitnessCouponClub.com has launched a service that helps to bring fitness professionals and companies together with fitness conscious consumers. By offering a group buying opportunity on the website, fitness companies can offer their services to fitness enthusiasts and fanatics who are looking for a deal on fitness classes, personal training and other fitness services or products. They even offer the opportunity to market worldwide if the service or product meets certain standards.
Following group buying trends, many companies have increased their clientele by offering ...
Can we get more social benefits from forests and have higher biodiversity?
2011-03-25
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---When local residents are allowed to make rules about managing nearby forests, the forests are more likely to provide greater economic benefits to households and contain more biodiversity, two University of Michigan researchers and a colleague conclude from an analysis of forest practices in tropical developing countries of East Africa and South Asia.
Lauren Persha and Arun Agrawal of the University of Michigan and Ashwini Chhatre of the University of Illinois used evidence from more than 80 forest sites in six tropical countries to test how local participation ...