By Kenneth Richard on 18. May 2026
New research utilizing the DNA of dinoflagellate (Polarella glacialis) indicates that, 14,000 years ago, when the atmospheric CO2 concentration is thought to have been 230 ppm, the studied Arctic region (Yermak Plateau) was sea ice-free year-round. “Around 14.0-13.9 cal kyr BP, a short-lived year-round, ice-free, open ocean occurred.” During the Early to Middle Holocene (10,000 […]
Posted in Arctic, Cryosphere, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 11. March 2026
“The trend of September Arctic sea ice extent for the most recent two decades 2005-2024 is -0.35 and -0.29 million km² per decade according to the NSIDC and OSISAF sea ice indices respectively…these trends are not statistically significant from zero at a 95% confidence level.” − England et al., 2025 Despite several peer-reviewed, “overly alarmist” […]
Posted in Arctic, Natural Variability, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 16. February 2026
For the last 3000 years the Beaufort Sea region has had “permanent sea ice.” According to a new study, there was “no sea ice” in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea from 11,700 to 8200 years ago. During this period, summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) averaged ~7°C, varying up to 9.6°C. “The Early Holocene (11.7−8.2 ka) is […]
Posted in Arctic, Cryosphere, Paleo-climatology, Sea Ice
By Kenneth Richard on 3. February 2026
“[S]ea ice loss did not lead to a reduction in BC [body condition] among adult BS [Barents Sea] bears. Rather, after around 2000…both males and females of different reproductive categories increased in body condition for the following two decades.” — Aars et al., 2026 Thick sea ice is not a necessary condition for polar bear […]
Posted in Arctic, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 2. October 2025
“Observations show no significant decline in Arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) since 2012…revealing a negligible trend of -0.4% per decade…” – Wang et al., 2025 Scientists are now acknowledging the sharply declining trend in Arctic sea ice from the mid-1990s to 2010s (-11.3% per decade), as well as the “negligible” or flat trend since 2012 […]
Posted in Arctic, Natural Oceanic Oscillations, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 11. August 2025
In 2007 Al Gore won a Nobel Peace prize for predicting summer (September) Arctic sea ice would “vanish” in the next 5 to 7 years, or by 2014. Since 2007 Arctic sea ice extent (SIE) losses have ceased. Instead, the SIE trend has been stable for nearly two decades (Stern, 2025). “Before 2007, September SIE […]
Posted in Arctic, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 16. June 2025
Scientists have counter-intuitively determined that a melting Antarctic ice sheet serves to mitigate global warming. The anticipated accelerated melting of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) will mean massive amounts of freshwater will enter the Southern Ocean (SO) over the next one hundred years. According to a new study‘s panoply of SOFIA (Southern Ocean Freshwater Input […]
Posted in Antarctic, Cooling/Temperature, Models, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 13. May 2025
DNA evidence suggests the limit of Antarctic sea ice was ~2000 kilometers farther south than it is today 2500 to 1000 years ago. Elephant seals can only breed in the Southern Ocean’s subantarctic, sea ice free waters. For example, today’s largest colony breeds on Macquarie Island (54.5°S). Scientists (Wood et al., 2025) have now identified […]
Posted in Antarctic, Medieval Warm Period, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 9. May 2025
According to a new study, the recent short-term (2011-2022) decreasing Antarctic sea ice concentration (SIC) trend has not offset the overall 43-year (1979-2022) trend of increasing Antarctic SIC. The strongly negative sea surface temperatures and SIC correlation coefficient (-0.73) indicates the waters around Antarctica have undergone a long-term cooling trend. Image Source: Sahoo et al., […]
Posted in Antarctic, Cooling/Temperature, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 31. March 2025
The alarmist narrative that says disappearing sea ice serves to enhance and worsen global warming may now be discarded. For decades it has been assumed the sea ice concentration (SIC) reduction trend in the the Arctic over the first 30 years of the satellite era (1979-2007, with a flat trend since then) would lead to […]
Posted in Antarctic, Arctic, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 2. December 2024
More evidence has emerged suggesting there is more sea ice in the Arctic today than nearly any time in the last 8000 years. According to a new study, biomarker evidence suggests the Barents Sea (Arctic) was seasonally “ice free” from ~8000 to ~2100 years ago, or back when the CO2 concentration was said to be […]
Posted in Arctic, Paleo-climatology, Sea Ice |
By Kenneth Richard on 22. November 2024
New research indicates there has been no reduction in sea ice in Antarctica’s Robertson Bay (Ross Sea) during the last century. Instead, the frigid Little Ice Age and its expanded sea ice conditions continue unabated through the 20th and 21st centuries. Between ~8000 and 3500 years before present the Antarctic ice sheet experienced several millennia […]
Posted in Antarctic, Cooling/Temperature, Sea Ice |
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