Arctic Old Ice Now Down to 1%

The title is not a misprint. Artic old ice (4 years old or older) is now down to just 1%.

This poses severe issues going forward, because it means that sudden melt of the Arctic is now possible.

NOAA’s 2018 Arctic Report Card is definitely worth watching – there is some very scary information contained within this video:

If you didn’t watch it, here are a few highlights:

There are now higher concentrations of micro plastics in the Arctic then all other oceans in the world.

The Arctic will NOT revert to it’s former state “any time soon” (thousands of years).

Surface air temperatures in the Arctic are warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet.

In 2018 Arctic sea ice remained younger, thinner, and covered less area than in the past. The 12 lowest extents in the satellite record have occurred in the last 12 years.

There’s been a vast expansion and greening of the Arctic tundra.

Warming Arctic Ocean conditions are also coinciding with an expansion of harmful toxic algal blooms in the Arctic Ocean and threatening food sources.

Despite increase of vegetation available for grazing, herd populations of caribou and wild reindeer across the Arctic tundra have declined by nearly 50% over the last two decades.

In the Bering Sea region, ocean primary productivity (phytoplankton) levels in 2018 were sometimes 500% higher than normal

Warming Arctic Ocean conditions are also coinciding with an expansion of harmful toxic algal blooms in the Arctic Ocean and threatening food sources.

In the terrestrial system, atmospheric warming continued to drive broad, long-term trends in declining terrestrial snow cover, melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and lake ice, increasing summertime Arctic river discharge, and the expansion and greening of Arctic tundra vegetation.

What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic as we all know. Weather patterns and climate have already changed dramatically world wide. The missing ice and warming oceans are having a huge effect upon the rest of the world.

NOAA acting director Tim Gallaudet said at the briefing that “the report card summarizes some very significant changes.” However, despite concerns about the Arctic, Gallaudet acknowledged in response to a reporter’s question that neither he nor any other senior NOAA official has briefed President Trump about climate change or the changes in the Arctic since Trump took office on 20 January 2017.

https://eos.org/articles/arctic-undergoing-most-unprecedented-transition-in-human-history

And THAT is because the U.S. President is a complete IDIOT and has categorically REFUSED to consider how climate change is real and having DEVASTATING EFFECTS upon world weather patterns, sea level rise, methane emissions and disappearing ice. Trump made it very clear early on when he ordered the removal of “climate change” from Federal agencies – he could care less, even if it leads the planet to disaster.