HadCRUT Shows Alaska 1C Cooler Than The 1880s

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Steven Goddard

According to HaCRUT, interior temperatures in Alaska have cooled a couple of degrees since 2004, and are now cooler than the 1880s.

hadcrut 4, hadcrut 4 vs 3

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4 Responses to HadCRUT Shows Alaska 1C Cooler Than The 1880s

Josualdo says:

February 5, 2012 at 4:55 pm

I regret to say this isn’t the most obvious graph I’ve seen lately. I also hope that the Y-axis is delta-T.

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- Paul Homewood says:
  
  February 5, 2012 at 7:18 pm
  
  That’s our Phil!
  
  Reply
  - Josualdo says:
    
    February 5, 2012 at 9:34 pm
    
    Ah
    
    Reply
Kevin O'Neill says:

February 6, 2012 at 1:35 am

Why is this Alaska temperature important? Why not focus on something that *is* important? For instance: The IPCC AR4 Global Circulation Models consistently *understated* arctic sea ice loss. The bias exhibited by the GCMs can only be due, in general terms, to either:

Overstating negative feedbacks,
Understating positive feedbacks,
Incorrect forcings, or
A combination of 1, 2, and 3.

One area that has been investigated and addressed is cloud formation over newly open water, see The Boundary Layer Response to Recent Arctic Sea Ice Loss and Implications for High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks. Another area that is being addressed is sea ice mechanics and kinematics, see A new modeling framework for sea-ice mechanics based on elasto-brittle rheology and IPCC climate models do not capture Arctic sea ice drift acceleration: Consequences in terms of projected sea ice thinning and decline

In the meantime, the arctic sea-ice downward spiral continues. If you’ve read much about arctic sea ice you’ve probably run across the general rule that first year ice is 2m thick. Except that in 2009 it was measured at 1.7m, in 2010 that dropped to 1.6m, and in spring 2011 it was measured at 1.4m.

Some people are looking for a tipping point. Other people deny that a tipping point exists or can exist. What seems clear is that the last equilibrium state in the arctic was probably the early 1950s. It was then that the downward spiral began and, if anything, it has only accelerated in recent decades.

In this sense the tipping point has already occurred. What we’re looking for now is the new equilibrium point. Will it be an arctic free of ice year-round? Will it be a seasonally ice-free arctic? Or will it be an arctic that falls some measure shy of seasonally ice-free? And of equal interest, how long will it take to reach the new equilibrium?

As an amateur, arctic, arm-chair climatologist I’ve read dozens – if not hundreds – of peer-reviewed papers in the last 18 months. What I’ve learned is there’s always MORE to learn. Forget answers – I’d just like to know what the right questions are

That said, I think it’s important to consider 2007 not as a ‘perfect storm’ or an outlier. 2007 ushered in a new regime; the climate changed. We will not likely see the summer sea ice extent, area, or volume of 2006 again in our lifetimes. 6 short years ago, but it’s ancient history. I’m not sure if that qualifies as another tipping point, but if not it’s a distinction without a difference.

In the meantime, keep bringing up trivia and neglect the actual issues of interest.

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