What are your thoughts on this year's record Arctic sea ice melt?

We have been generally warming for 300 years since we came out of the Little Ice Age. Common sense would suggest that more ice would melt. Having grown up in South Dakota, ice and or snow cover meant hibernation, starvation and/or death for most animals. Melting ice meant food and new life. I do not fear melting ice. I relish it.

There have been quite a few Q & A recently crowing that this year had more ice last year, I don't think the second highest melt recorded is anything to crow about. There are also those who talk about the NW passage having been open from time to time early last century, this is true as long as you ignore the fact that those passages took week, months and even years to complete. The NW passage being open means being able to sail straight through. While the Arctic melt won't contribute to sea rise it is a sign that the world is warming as it continues to shrink it is going to be harder and harder for the few who deny it continue to make their silly claims.

I think that this year's melt is evidence for a feedback: specifically that enough ice has melted in prior years to alter the radiative balance via the sea ice albedo effect. A tipping point in a bistable system has been past and a mere return to normal temperatures will not restore the sea ice cover.

Not surprising. Like what the proponents were going on about earlier this year, new ice is thinner, making for an easier melt. I haven't really seen a temperature record for the Arctic, and how La Nina effects us down here really means nothing in the Arctic. Meier said warm ocean waters made a large contribution to this melt, so obviously it was warmer up there.

I am terrified, that isn't my scientific answer, but a trend where a period of slight cooling doesn't slow the melting makes me realize that this problem is more impacting than anyone can assume. The problem is no one can assume what that devastation might signify. And scientists are in a catch 22 because they know that if they express how dire it really is then people will tune-out, so they have to come across as calm and moderate. And that can give the sense to some that the situation is not dire at all.

I find it a bit disturbing but not being a scientist further comments would be ridiculing myself.

Firstly ice at the poles in a rarity in geological terms, occuring for less than 10% of history so if it melts its nothing unusual. In more recent history sea ice melted faster in the 1930's and reached a similar level to today so its not unprecedented, the passage was navigatable during the 1930 and 1940's without breaking through thick ice, there are some great pics of ships at arctic crossing it on the web. Look at the longer term records rather than the satelite data. (see paper below) The sea ice has melted from the bottom up resulting in the thin ice (some of which the satelittes fail to pickup the thin ice underestimating ice cover, as the passge is not actually physically navigatable without ice breakers, confirmed by ships there, despite the satelite images) due to changes in wind direction pushing warmer waters to the arctic. Depsite the warm currents there was a 9% recovery over the summer, an area the size of Germany which is pretty impressive. The fact that the antarctic is increasing in ice mass at the same time shows that the recent melting has been caused primarily through natural processes, though the media seems to misrepresent this fact. The following paper covers the observed rise in sea temperatures in the arctic and the causes: http://people.iarc.uaf.edu/~sakasofu/pdf/recovery_little_ice_age.pdf (its quite large due to all the graphs, and covers many other areas aswell) Also of interest, sea ice has been declining much faster than predcited by the all the climate models.

Wouldn't it be cool if the northwest passage opened up again? Think of all the toll money companies could save if they didn't have to use the Panama canal! If it's melting more, that's a good thing.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/deetest/deetmp.6351.png