It was a good run,
even thrilling for a time, but 2011 is winded and has
pulled up lame, just at the time when 2007 kicked it into an even higher gear. Thanks for the memories, girl; may you refreeze in peace. I'm sure the years you will spawn, not yet a twinkle in your eye, will learn from what you have to teach.
Time to turn to the big league --
sea ice volume -- though its less enthralling due to its lack of daily data. It's where the game will be won or lost, but somehow just not the same.
(The
Arctic Sea Ice Blog is a good place to follow all the action in great detail.)
 |
| 2011 Arctic sea ice extent, in red |
2 comments:
Don't over-anticipate.
And... back in the race. Based on the experience of the last few years a first place finish would seem to be a poor bet, *but* there's the peculiar behavior of the area stat, which shows that the ice is very thin and chopped up over large areas. These could melt very fast. There's also the continued sharp drop in volume, consistent with the foregoing, and the presence of a large tongue dropping down into the Greenland Sea, indicating continued major ice advection, which of recent years only 2007 had. Finally, the new weather set-up is favorable to loss/melt.
So 2011 is a full step behind in terms of extent, but she's very much still in the running.
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