General public and data users: However, the sea ice concentrations in the region are now low, with many open water areas between ice floes. Sea Ice Index data. Attribution Climate change made Europe’s 2019 record heatwave up to ‘100 times more likely’. Melt also started earlier than average within the northern Bering and southern Chukchi Seas and also within Baffin Bay along the west coast of Greenland. More Videos ... MUST WATCH. close. Credit: Data courtesy of Jeff Miller at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Contact NSIDC User Services or call +1 303.492.6199 'It will be hot, with high temperatures persisting through the night time periods, and there is the risk of some thunderstorms over the UK.'. Schröder, D., D. L. Feltham, D. Flocco, and M. Tsamados. It can appear in July or August as the sea ice edge expands northward over a region near 66 degrees S, 43 degrees E, occurring in about a third of the winter sea ice seasons. Copy link . Scientists blog from Antarctica and provide a glimpse of what it's like to do research in the field. Nature: Climate Change. The US's recent warm weather was caused by a high-pressure dome building up over much of the country, trapping the summer heat. Looking for facts and information? By July, Antarctic sea ice extent was tracking among the lowest in the continuous satellite record. July 24, 2019… The largest floe is roughly 110 kilometers by 65 kilometers (70 miles by 40 miles), about 50 percent larger than the state of Rhode Island. According to the European Union Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), the fires this year are far more intense than normal, with a Total Fire Radiative Power (TFRP) up to about 10 times higher than average for a given date (Figure 5b). The magenta line shows the 1981 to 2010 average extent for that month. Explore current and archived sea ice data on the NSIDC Sea Ice Index Web site. 2019 is shown in a thick purple line ending on July 31, 2019, while the 2012 record low is also marked. A collaborative network of scientists and stakeholders to advance research on sea ice prediction and communicate sea ice knowledge and tools. During the second half of the month, air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean returned to average, while Europe experienced another record-breaking heat wave. 'That doesn’t mean every extreme event is more intense because of it, but a lot are. Figure 1. About sharing. Figure 3. 02 August, 2019 | Heatwave | Europe Human contribution to record-breaking June 2019 heatwave in France A heatwave struck large parts of Europe during the last week of June 2019, breaking several historical records at single locations in France, Switzerland, Austria, … The sea ice data for the Sea Ice Index are from the NASA Snow and Ice Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), which is funded by NASA award 80GSFC18C0102, and from the CIRES cooperative agreement with NOAA, which is funded by NOAA NA15OAR4320137. Credit: Kevin Woods, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental LaboratoryHigh-resolution image. This map shows the 2019 melt onset expressed as differences (in days) with respect to 1981 to 2010 averages. France is braced for a heatwave … In other areas, the ice was sparse with isolated floes surrounded by open water. The ice appeared to be highly decayed with deep melt ponds, many melted completely through the ice. 'That's similar to saying that a normal summer in future will be as hot as our hottest summers to date,' he added. In Europe, he noted, this June was also the warmest on record, reaching almost a whole degree Celsius above the previous number one back in 2003. Published on Aug 26, 2019 Europe wide temperatures and forecast in this heatwave, from Norway yo Italy, from Turkey and Russia in the East to Portugal … 'As a result of this shift, hot air has been drawn up from Europe causing the high temperatures we are experiencing this week. 'Heatwave conditions in the U.S Midwest and the East coast have strengthened the jet stream,' explained environmental scientist Kate Sambrook of the University of Leeds. When scientists talk about the cryosphere, they mean the places on Earth where water is in its solid form, frozen into ice or snow. The heatwave of June 2019 engulfed countries including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium the Czech Republic and Poland. 'The eastward passage of weather fronts and low pressures from the North Atlantic are currently being blocked by the high pressure over Europe,' added University of Reading climate scientist Len Shaffrey. About the dataCredit: National Snow and Ice Data CenterHigh-resolution image. Sea Ice Index data. Europe to bake in ANOTHER 40C heatwave next week after record-breaking June scorcher… just in time for UK summer holidays! Areas of open water have appeared on the north coast of Greenland where two large floes that were fast ice broke away last week. Figure 4a. Human-driven emissions added up … 2014. While agreeing that the next week's weather will determine this July's place in the record books, Dr Inness noted that 2019 did bring us the warmest June known since the year 1880. A synthesis of scientific sea ice extent projections during Arctic summer, updated monthly during melt season. 'The fact that so many recent years have had very high summer temperatures both globally and across Europe is very much in line with what we expect from man-made global warming,' said Dr Inness. The present heatwave is not the only notable indicator of climate change, experts note, with ongoing droughts — such as those being experienced in many parts of Germany — also being in line with scientific predictions. Research into the 2003 European heatwave suggested at the time that human activity had more than doubled the risk of such warm summers — and that annual heatwaves like we are experiencing now could become commonplace by around the middle of the century. Elderly people who live alone and have little social contact are more likely to have falls, study finds, Even people with moderate cases of Covid-19 can suffer STROKES and seizures, study suggests. On Thursday, temperatures in Paris reached 108.9º Fahrenheit (F) (42.7º Celsius (C)), breaking a heat record set in 1947. Press direct line: +1 303.492.1497. For example, every heatwave occurring in Europe today is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change.'. The monthly average extent was 80,000 square kilometers (30,900 square miles) below the previous record low set in 2012 and 1.88 million square kilometers (726,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. The report notes that these fires have released as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the annual total emissions of Sweden, or more than 50 megatons of this greenhouse gas; this is more than all fires within the same month between 2010 and 2018. Tue 25 Jun 2019 11.17 EDT. 'This will allow weather fronts to move over the UK, bringing cooler air and possibly some rain,' Professor Shaffrey added. Figure 2a. Recent changes in Arctic sea ice melt onset, freezeup, and melt season length. The 1981 to 2010 median is in dark gray. Ice also continued to linger along the coast in the East Siberian Sea near the Russian port town of Pevek and Wrangel Island. Soaring temperatures broke records in Germany, France, Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday as a heat wave gripped Europe for the second time in a month. And 2019 is already proving to be an exceptional year on that front. Home | Contact Us 'Weather records are not normally broken by such large margins — a few tenths of a degree would be more likely.'. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. The graph above shows Arctic sea ice extent as of July 31, 2019, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years and the record low year. Monthly July ice extent for 1979 to 2019 shows a decline of 7.32 percent per decade.Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center High-resolution image. This true-color composite image taken by the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor shows sea ice as seen from an aircraft over Peary Land, Northeast Greenland. On 25 July, the record was again broken, reaching 41.8 °C (107.2 °F) in Begijnendijk (Flemish Brabant). This map of the Arctic Ocean shows sea surface temperature in degrees Celsius for July 31, 2019. Guy Davies. The latter half of the month, in contrast, was relatively cool over the East Siberian and Laptev Seas, as well as near Svalbard and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, where temperatures at the 925 hPa level (about 2,500 feet above the surface) were 1 to 4 degrees Celsius (2 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) below the 1981 to 2010 average. 'If conditions continue, it is likely that we could experience the hottest July on record,' said Dr Sambrook. WHAT CAUSED THE HEATWAVE? While onboard some of these flights in mid-July, Kevin Woods of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle, Washington took several photos of the sea ice (Figure 5c). By the end of the month, the Northern Sea Route that links Europe and Asia through the East Siberian and Laptev Seas appeared to be essentially open, whereas the Northwest Passage (both the southern and northern routes) remained blocked by ice. These relatively cool conditions were the result of below average sea level pressure centered over the East Siberian Sea, coupled with above average sea level pressure over the west Siberian Plain, which brought cold air southwards and helped to push the ice towards the coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been tracking the melt season with aircraft flights over the ice north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, as part of its Arctic Heat program. Extreme heatwave warning! Smoke from these fires has been observed to blow across Greenland and over sea ice areas. Meteorologists are predicting high temperatures reaching up to 100°F (38°C) over central and Eastern England on Thursday. However, by July 30, the heat wave that had been plaguing Europe moved north, baking Greenland with temperatures at the 925 hPa level 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above average while parts of the Arctic Ocean saw temperatures 1 to 7 degrees Celsius (2 to 13 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. 1979 to 1989 is shown in light pink, the 1990s in dark pink, the 2000s in magenta, and the 201os in purple. It is something many have feared - the earth is warming faster than first thought. The timing of melt pond development has been shown to be a useful predictor of how much ice will be left at the end of summer. The final estimate depends on which observational dataset is used, he noted. 'However, the outcome is uncertain as conditions are expected to change early next week. Europe has been hit with the second extreme heat wave in a month, with record temperatures leading to fears that Notre Dame Cathedral could collapse. Stroeve, J. C., T. Markus, L. Boisvert, J. Miller, and A. Barrett. Updated 2302 GMT (0702 HKT) August 1, 2019 . The gray areas around the median line show the interquartile and interdecile ranges of the data. Changes in Arctic melt season and implications for sea ice loss. The present conditions may turn out to be record-breaking, but they are also part of a recent trend towards warmer UK summers. Monday, August 26th 2019, 2:15 pm - It’s now quite late in the summer, and yet many areas in Europe are expecting temperatures 10 to 14°C above average. Fire radiative power is a measure of heat output from wildfires as shown for June 2019 (red) and the 2003 to 2018 average (grey). 'Air from continental Europe, the Mediterranean and even North Africa is brought over the UK.'. Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis (ASINA) is produced by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Temperatures will climb some 20 degrees above average in … Antarctic sea ice growth has been slightly slower than average since the end of the austral summer in March, pushing an already-low sea ice extent lower. Since the beginning of June, more than 100 large wildfires have been observed over Arctic lands, including Alaska, Greenland, and Siberia (Figure 5a). Europe heatwave: Paris latest to break record with 42.6C . Sea Ice Index data. Sea ice extent this July declined at an average rate of 105,700 square kilometers (40,800 square miles) per day, exceeding the 1981 to 2010 average of 86,800 square kilometers (33,500 square miles) per day. In this image taken on Thursday Aug.1, 2019 large rivers of melting water form on an ice sheet in western Greenland and drain into moulin holes that empty into the ocean from underneath the ice. Explore NASA satellite data using interactive maps that show how the Arctic is changing over time. Melt onset over the central Arctic Ocean near the longitudes of the Laptev Sea, the Lincoln Sea, and parts of Hudson Bay was up to 20 days earlier than average. About the dataCredit: National Snow and Ice Data CenterHigh-resolution image. Figure 5a. Recurring polynyas over the Cosmonaut Sea and the Maud Rise. August 22, 2019 at 6:49 PM EDT For the third time this summer, parts of Europe will soon be dealing with another heat wave. Ice retreated over most regions of the Arctic Ocean, especially over the Laptev Sea, northern Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and Hudson Bay, where no ice remained at the end of the month. One death was reported. doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058951. The run of unprecedented temperatures in July – which sent records tumbling in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany – would have been “extremely unlikely” without climate change, according to a new quick-fire analysis. Sea ice extent in September of 2019 is likely to be among the five lowest minimums recorded. July is typically the warmest month of the year, with the largest rate of ice loss. First published on Tue 25 Jun 2019 10.44 EDT . In late July, a similar feature formed in the Cosmonaut Sea, the name for the area of the Southern Ocean along the western coast of Enderby Land (40 degrees to 55 degrees E longitude). This was in part fueled by early melt onset; ice began to melt nearly a month earlier than average (Figure 4a). Arctic sea ice extent for July 2019 was 7.59 million square kilometers (2.93 million square miles). Arctic sea ice extent for July 2019 set a new record low of 7.59 million square kilometers (2.93 million square miles). 'With further climate change there could be a 50% chance of having hot summers in the future,' agreed Dr Finney. This figure shows the Total Fire Radiative Power (TFRP) in the Arctic Circle detected by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). WHY WAS EUROPE IN THE GRIP OF A HEATWAVE IN SUMMER 2019? See About the Cryosphere. By. © 2019, National Snow and Ice Data Center :: Advancing knowledge of Earth's frozen regions, Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), NASA Distributed Active Archive Center at NSIDC (NSIDC DAAC), All About Arctic Climatology & Meteorology, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Sea Ice Index (Passive microwave satellite data), MASIE (Daily sea ice extent, multi-source). Another factor that plays a role in ice melt is deposition of dark soot from wildfires on the highly reflective snow and ice surfaces, allowing more of the sun’s energy to be absorbed. 'Changes in the intensity and likelihood of extreme weather is how climate change manifests,' said environmental scientist Friederike Otto of the University of Oxford. The polynya is formed by a combination of ocean currents and winds that create an upward dome shape in warmer, or a few degrees above freezing, deep ocean layers. 24 June 2019. Further, the fires release a substantial amount of carbon dioxide. Only seven previous years—1990, 1991, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2018—experienced daily rates of ice loss exceeding 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) per day, with 2007 holding the record low of 114,200 square kilometers (44,100 square miles) per day. As of August 5, 2019, the total sea ice extent has dropped below 6 million square kilometers, something which has not occurred prior to 1999. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. This week's heat wave in Europe is a preview of what the climate crisis has in store By Jordan Evans and Brandon Miller, CNN Updated 10:49 AM ET, Tue June 25, 2019 Yes, Climate Change Made Europe’s Heat Wave Even Hotter. The June 2019 European heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather affecting southwestern to central Europe, starting in late June and resulting in the hottest June ever recorded in Europe. There was little retreat in the Barents Sea where the ice edge had already pulled back to its average northward position for this time of year. 2012 was an exception, when the average August ice loss rate remained quite rapid at 89,500 square kilometers per day (34,600 square miles per day), leading to a new record low for the September minimum that year. This image from July 24, 2019 from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor shows the locations of fires (red dots) in the Arctic. 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