Thursday, October 25, 2007

Um, yikes?

Time-lapse photography from NASA of this winter in the Arctic.



I'm not really sure what to make of that.

It came from Andrew Sullivan, but without a link or attribution. I assume it's real, but I don't know. If it is real, somebody's losing their job over collecting the data, never mind releasing it—the Bushies like their NASA neutered and working on Mars Missions, not underscoring Al Gore.

But there's no context to that video. Is that a typical seasonal shift? Can you show me a video (or simulation) from ten years ago? Twenty? More? It almost looks like a third of the ice cap melts, how is Manhattan still above water?

I hate to sound like Bush, but, I think I need more info on this...

1 comment:

michelline said...

Well, it's still not atributed, but the description that accompanies the video on YouTube does provide a little context - Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover. The 2007 Arctic summer sea ice has reached the lowest extent of perennial ice cover on record - nearly 25% less than the previous low set in 2005.

BTW - Why have you not switched to popup comments? Why make us click twice to get to the posting window?