Study: Fewer Clouds Behind Antarctica’s Strong Sea Ice Growth
Researchers have discovered that lower cloud coverage in the Antarctic can promote sea ice growth.
Unlike the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice in the warming climate, Antarctic sea ice witnessed a modest extension over the past four decades, according to the paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.
The researchers from China and the United States found that Antarctic sea ice had a strong rebound from 2011 to 2012.
“We quantified the effects on sea ice growth via a thermodynamic model based on reanalysis and satellite data and concluded that lower cloud coverage cooled the sea surface and accelerated the sea ice storage,” said Wang Yunhe, a researcher from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Clouds are like a down jacket for the Antarctic to preserve heat during winter,” said Bi Haibo, a researcher from the institute. “Fewer clouds mean more heat is lost from the ocean.”
Rapid temperature decline and thicker sea ice in the Antarctic during the winter in 2011 was mainly due to fewer clouds, he said.
Read more at Xinhuanet
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jerry krause
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Hi Readers,
There is hope. “Researchers have discovered that lower cloud coverage in the Antarctic can promote sea ice growth.”
There is no significant GHE because there are clouds. In 1966 R. C. Sutcliffe (Weather and Climate) wrote: “Clouds which give rain, which never even threaten to give rain but which dissolves again into vapour before the precipitation stage is ever reached, have a profound effect on our climate. This is obvious enough if we only think of the difference between a cloudy and a sunny day in summer or between an overcast and a clear frosty night in winter.”
Have a good day, Jerry
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jerry krause
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Hi Readers,
But when I read further, maybe I am mistaken. “Unlike the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice in the warming climate,”. Could clouds, when there is greater cloud coverage during the Arctic winter, cause there to be less sea ice growth???
We (I) really do not know if these Chinese scientists are suggesting there is another mechanism other than cloud which can be observed to significantly influence sea ice growth. So, maybe there still is hope.
Maybe scientists will discover something else that Sutcliffe wrote. “All this [it does not matter what this is] may seem a far cry from the general circulation of the world’s atmosphere but the detail serves to point the moral, that one cannot explain the broad features of world climate if one does not know the actual mechanisms involved. Evaporation from the land, taking the year as a whole, is often interrupted and limited, sometimes by a lack of water, sometimes by lack of heat.”
Have a good day, Jerry
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jerry krause
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Hi Readers,
Have these Chinese scientists forgotten about the Chinese principle of Yin Yang?
“The principle of Yin and Yang is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example, female-male, dark-light and old-young. The principle, dating from the 3rd century BCE or even earlier, is a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy and culture in general.”
Yin and Yang – Ancient History Encyclopedia
https://www.ancient.eu/Yin_and_Yang/
Have a good day, Jerry
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