Arctic sea ice update - 03/15/2015

I absolutely concur with these comments from Kevin Hester, especially about the new form of denial

"340 km/hr wind speeds recorded in Vanuatu with dozens dead. 

"Cyclone Pam is the first of a new generation of cyclones that will be attacking the Arctic sea ice, lowering the albedo effect, increasing the warming, repeating the process in another positive feedback loop of armagedon not being talked about in the MSM reportage of climate change. 

"There is no way back from the collapse of the polar ice sheets, the planetary thermostat. 

"Anyone that tells you anything else is lying to you be they deniers, liars or the new breed of denier, the people in the environmental movement who want you to think your recycling, solar panels or Prius will save the world. 

"Bill McKibben of 350.org for one or our mainstream Green parties who misguidedly are keeping you in the dark."

Strong Winds And Waves Batter Arctic Sea Ice

Arctic News,

15 March, 2015

As Earth warms, the intensity of storms is rising across the globe. At least eight people died in Vanuatu, as it was hit by Cyclone Pam. "It hit Port Vila at an incredible 340 kilometres an hour", mentions a recent news report. The left part of the image below shows Cyclone Pam reaching speeds as high as 144 kilometers an hour (89.48 mph, green circle) on March 12, 2015, 1500Z, while three further cyclones feature on the Southern Hemisphere. 

At the same time, on the Northern Hemisphere, winds reached speeds as high as 101 km/h (62.76 mph, bottom green circle), 120 km/h (74.56 mph, middle green circle) and 112 km/h (69.59 mph, top green circle), as shown on the right part of above image. The image below shows strong winds moving from the North Atlantic into the Arctic Ocean on March 13, 2015.

 

The video below, with cci-reanalyzer.org forecasts for March 13 - 20, 2015, shows strong winds battering the Arctic Ocean at both the Pacific and Atlantic ends. 

Waves as high as 41.5 ft (12.65 m) were recorded between Svalbard and Norway on March 13, 2015 (green circle on the left part of the image below), while waves as high as 23.13 ft (7.05 m) were recorded close to the edge of the sea ice on March 15, 2015 (green circle on the right part of the image below).

Meanwhile, it more and more looks like the 2015 sea ice extent maximum was reached on February 25, as illustrated by the image below.

Strong winds can cause high waves that can break up the sea ice. At the same time, strong winds can speed up currents that push sea ice out of the Arctic Ocean, while bringing warmer water into the Arctic Ocean, as illustrated by the image below

The situation is dire and calls for comprehensive and effective action, as discussed at the Climate Plan blog..