More bad news from the arctic

Sea ice is retreating, even in the winter:

The amount of Arctic sea ice is shrinking not only in the summer but in the winter as well, a NASA scientist reported on Wednesday. Researchers are linking the change directly to global warming.

In 2005 and 2006, the extent of winter ice was about 6% smaller than the average amount over the past 26 years. The retreat is also significantly larger than the long-term decrease of 1.5% to 2% in winter ice cover observed per decade over the same time period....

Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist for the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who is not on the team, agrees. "There is lots of natural climate variability – it is a complex science – but the best explanation of what we are seeing is the emerging signs of greenhouse warming,” he said. “What we see in the Arctic is a [dead] canary in the coal mine.”

“I hate to say we told you so,” Serreze said of predictions on global warming from the past five years, “but, we told you so.”

The adventures of the slightly-fresher lake continue.