Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Received 14 January 2004; revised 2 September 2004; accepted 5 October 2004; published 4 January 2005.Various observations and model results point to an arctic sea ice cover that was extraordinarily thin in the 1990s. This thin ice cover was caused by a strengthened cyclonic circulation of wind and ice and by unusual warmth of springtime air temperatures. Here modeled sea ice volume is decomposed into two components: first, a dynamic or wind-forced response to interannually varying winds but a fixed annual cycle of air temperature and second, a thermally forced solution responding only to interannually varying temperatures....
...This behavior seems to characterize an ice cover highly constrained by interannual variations in forcing and not in balance. The bulk (two thirds) of volume loss from the 1960s to the 1990s is a result of a striking
thinning of undeformed ice. The remainder of the volume loss is due to thinning of ridged ice and reduced concentrations. The central Arctic Ocean and particularly the East Siberian Sea suffer the greatest losses (of up to 2 m); the ice north of the Canadian archipelago also thinned since the 1960s by 0.5 m.
The Industrial Revolution statted in the late 1800s. It was in full swing and beginning to result in recognizable environmental deterioration by the 1950s evidenced through the Mauna Loa Laboratories carbon dioxide meansures and warming of the planet. By the 1960s an understanding of "Greenhouse Gases" was introdueed.to the societies of First World nations, including that of the then Soviet Union.
The Arctic Ocean has been losing mass for some time now and it is my estimation it has reached a 'tipping point' that allows an 'attitude / disposition' change in the asthenosphere. That change in 'attitude' has resulted in a movement with in the North American Plate causing its mass to engage movement in the Pacific Plate as it is more 'free floating' than any other major plate. It has virtually no land mass to weigh it down into the asthenosphere.
I believe we are seeing the beginning of tectonic movement that will only grow in dimension across the planet as 'energy waves' shake the plates loose and old jagged corners start to 'round.'
Research takes time before publication to record, synthesis and compose into a reasonably good reporting.
Arctic Ocean sea ice volume: What explains its recent depletion? (click title to entry - thank you)
D. A. Rothrock and J. Zhang
