In 2007 Scientist models indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free by summer 2013.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7139797.stm
Did it happen ?
Always works better when you go directly to the science instead of the popsci translations of popular press. The prediction comes from a survey of existent studies by researchers (Wieslaw Maslowski, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Matthew Higgins, and Andrew Roberts) of the Department of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
The name of the study:
The Future of Arctic Sea Ice, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences,Vol. 40: 625-654 (Volume publication date May 2012)
The money quote from which the author of the article derives his message is:
Given the estimated trend and the volume estimate for October–November of 2007 at less than 9,000 km3 (Kwok et al. 2009), one can project that at this rate it would take only 9 more years or until 2016 ± 3 years to reach a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer. Regardless of high uncertainty associated with such an estimate, it does provide a lower bound of the time range for projections of seasonal sea ice cover.
(bolding = my emphasis)
So, what was actually stated was that we could see a "nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer" as early as the 2013 - 2019 time frame. As we've already been seeing such (mostly aggregated clumps of flows and floating slicks of slushy chunks) in the summers, with very little multi-year ice left in the Arctic Ocean and increasing little recovery in the winter, it looks to me like these researchers made some very astute projections that seem closely reflective of reality.
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105345
These guys say arctic sea ice volume is up 50% for 2013
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/arctic-sea-ice-volume-up-50-1.2465952
Anyone disagree ?
As stated in the article, 2012 was a record low amount of Arctic sea ice, that there was some modest recovery with new ice formation in 2013 is neither unexpected nor in any way unusual with respect to the normal year to year variations that are the norm of annual weather patterns. Meanwhile, 2013 continues the declining trend of Arctic sea-ice over the last 3 decades. From the same article you offer into evidence:
...“It’s estimated that there was around 20,000 cubic kilometres of Arctic sea ice each October in the early 1980s, and so today’s minimum still ranks among the lowest of the past 30 years,” said Andrew Shepherd, a co-author of the study, in a statement. Shepherd, who is a researcher at University College London, was part of a team that presented the study last week at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco...
...In September, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre reported that Arctic ice cover at its summer minimum this year was 5.1 million square kilometres. That was also up 50 per cent from last year's record low, but the sixth lowest on record. The seven lowest levels have all been recorded in the last seven years...
..."The Arctic caught a break, if you will, in 2013," said Martin Jefferies, the University of Alaska geophysicist who edited the report card, at the AGU conference. "But one year doesn't change the long-term trend toward a warmer Arctic."
Sounds like Polar Bear populations are stable with possible increases in some areas.
Some areas are data deficient (not surveyed) but overall it sounds like good news Bears
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/03...13-deconstructed-with-a-map-to-the-good-news/
Ah, the blogosphere is wonderfully full of imaginative people promoting their personal agenda, how about we actually look at what the science that this individual bases his claims upon:
http://pbsg.npolar.no/en/status/status-table.html
Looks to me like we have four areas of fairly long-term stability, three new areas of good data (one stable, two declining), and four areas of long-term and accelerating decline, with one small population area that was reduced which seems to have marginally improved over the last couple of years giving it a slight increase for one small sub-population.
It should be noted that the single area of increase is a capture-release zone where polar bears roaming into more populated areas in search of food to make up what is disappearing from their diet are being relocated. It is good news that such programs seem to be helping to increase that local population, but I'm not sure how you torture and tease "good news" out of the overall reported science.
More good news
Great Lakes under second largest amount of ice cover ever reported. The highest was during our 1970's mini-ice-age Climatologists say the extensive ice may help to keep temps a bit cooler and less humid this summer.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...-per-cent-may-cause-cool-dry-summer-1.2559101
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Not sure of how or why you consider the above to be "good news" but to each their own. The ice this year is unusual in its extent, but it really has little or no impact on overall climate considerations or understandings. Not sure of the relevance of your "mini-ice-age" fantasies, but they don't enhance your factual, scientific credibility on these issues.
BTW, your posted graph demonstrates the anomalous nature of this local phenomena, demonstrating a negative trend for great lakes ice in a generally warming climate.
If you'd like to look at what climate science has to say about such issues, all you need to do, is a little research:
(from the Researcher quoted in your newspaper article)
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/archive/Task_rpts/2008/epwang09-1.html
"Is the Relationship between Great Lakes Ice Cover and Climate Patterns Statistically Significant?"
"Analysis of Great Lakes ice cover climatology: Winters 2006-2011"
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/ftp/publications/tech_reports/glerl-157/tm-157.pdf
and if you have access to a good public or university library system, this series on each of the Great Lakes and the Great Lake basin area:
"Model-simulated interannual variability of Lake Erie ice cover, circulation, and thermal structure in response to atmospheric forcing 2003-2013." Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 118:19 pp. (2013).