This latest New Scientist video accompanies a news item headlined “North Pole could be ice free in 2008“, and shows multi-year ice moving out of the Arctic over winter.
“The set-up for this summer is disturbing,” says Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). A number of factors have this year led to most of the Arctic ice being thin and vulnerable as it enters its summer melting season.”
Also of interest in the video: look at the large cracks in the thicker ice north of Canada.
Gareth, have a look at Wayne Davidson’s site if you haven’t already. The opening screen is a fixed intro, so scroll down to the actual top post. I’ve never looked into this enough to know how much there is to it (and Wayne’s somewhat obscure writng style is not an aid to understanding), but as far as I can gather the sun disks are an indication of how clear the air is, which in turn is not only a direct indication of haziness but of cloudiness later in the year. If Wayne is right, this year appears likely to be a record for clear air in the Arctic, which with all the other factors in play appears to have set things up for an extreme loss this summer. IIRC he is quite correct that by now there would typically be significantly more cloud activity.
Thanks Steve, I keep an eye on Wayne’s site. Like you, I’m not entirely clear what he’s up to, but he thinks its important, and he has the great advantage of being on the spot.