2016 2017 2018 new class extreme low sea ice extent maxima along with 2019, despite different atmospheric circulations.

       At present,   February 8 2019  Arctic sea ice extent is #2 in lowest extent:
  
       2009----  2010-----  2011-----  2012-----  2013----  2014----  2015----  2016-----  2017----  2018----  2019

   
   January 31 to February 8 JAXA  sea ice measurements reveal only 2018 being lesser in extent by about 16 thousand kilometers square on the 8th.  This is an extraordinary feature of winter 2019 with a distinctively dissimilar general circulation than the preceding 6 seasons.......

2019's general circulation to date can be characterized in part by by a snow footprint:

                    Snow cover has very similar features to sea ice extent,  it can define the degree of winter,
mild , severe or extreme.  If sea ice is widely spread out and thick,  Northern Hemisphere winter may be more  severe as well.  These two Cryospheric features make the story of winter which shapes the Arctic Polar Vortex:

   NOAA daily composites 600 mb temperatures (close to the density weighted temperature of the entire troposphere),  Arctic Polar Vortex average location January

4 to February 4 2019.   Siberia dominates,  which is contrary to all winters going back to 2012.  There are some similarities from season to season, but very prominent differences were distinguishable by analyzing maps daily,  overall PV average extent calculations may appear somewhat similar,  but they are not:

The way to analyze any given Polar Vortex season,  is to break it down in smaller periods,  January 24 to February 4  sequences 2016 to 2019 demonstrate differing flow structures.  These are winters of interest having the least sea ice extent in history.  All 4 recent seasons including 2019  had different Arctic Polar Vortex configurations,; 2016 had a very mangled weaker  and smaller Polar Vortex,  with mainly 2 continental much weaker and smallish  vortices acting independently from each other. Arctic Ocean  sea ice  became badly broken up by minima 2016.   2017  had a Pole warming  flow pattern in particular with North of Greenland Atlantic in origin cyclones heading Northwards,  2018 had a massive extreme Polar vortice dwarfing all others above the Canadian Arctic Archipelago,  Russian side vortice appeared weaker on most occasions then.   2019 to date has the opposite of 2018,  but with a difference,  continental vortices within the Polar Vortex were more balanced with Siberia dominating on most days, so far  the Polar Vortex rarely split  in two and appears stretched out.  This gives open sea water inroads from the North Pacific,   a strong  Siberian vortice pushes massive cyclones Northeastwards more often,  To date, North Atlantic cyclones went towards Eurasia, and in effect help refreeze the North Pole area sea ice which keeps the Polar Vortex more or less together.

    Given that 4 recent seasons created differing circulation features,  it is amazing that sea extent at Maximum extent date remains near all time record lows.  This strongly suggests a greater warming of the Oceans and sea ice has the potential to collapse to extreme low summer extents only not doing so because of,  you guessed it, summer circulation features. WD February 9th 2019

-39.3 C 700 mb coldest temperature of winter to date, where?: White Lake Michigan USA

~The entire Arctic winter of 2018-19 was never colder at that altitude.
~Until next day in Siberian Russia
~North American continent is easily capable of creating such temperatures
~Provided less snow insulation covering ground frozen hard from extensive exposure at the peak of darker winter, from a just prior warmer or late coming winter,  a barer dark lit Great Plains ground is onto itself a byproduct of Antthropological Global Warming (AGW).

    The specific heat capacity of dry soil is less than snow or ice, it means soil can loose (or gain) its temperature quicker,  especially if continental snow coverage has been reduced:

                                                 
     ASCAT 02/28 2019 gives a good idea of where the snow lies,   it shines bright white here,  there are many locations with scant coverage namely the Prairies or the Great North American Plains:

  January 29 2019 winds over none existent forests areas (link)  coincided with the 700 mb flow hitting  the State of Michigan (link).  Consider also vast American deforested farmlands adding to different specific heat capacity characteristics of the landscape.  Note ,  same day entire  North American Arctic was warmer than Michigan at that level as well,  even for since the start of winter (from actual Upper Air measurements)!  This is a very compelling bit of evidence suggesting that vortices within the Arctic Polar Vortex,  may take quite independent temperatures then the rest of the APV.    I call one of these vortices simply as a vortice.  Usually a Southern NE American vortice becomes rogue because it is pushed Southwards by Quebec\Labrador massive cyclones ascending towards Baffin Bay,  which also warms a great chunk of the Polar Vortex concurrently,  cutting off the Southern vortice to be on its own, thus a rogue.  The idea suggesting the jet stream pushing down a rogue vortice has long been accepted as the reason why they are displaced,  but a vortice is usually part of the Polar Vortex where the jet stream is at its perimeter,  not within.

   As the world warms extreme weather increases because the Polar Vortex is shrunken and or stretched. 

         To make this evident,  consider thinner Arctic Ocean sea ice warming the Upper Air directly above.  Observing what happens to the Upper Air there is key.  What has and is happening is Arctic Polar Vortex stretched to from Maine towards Northern China, on the Axis aligned with Greenland to Vladivostok.  The core of the Vortex is hollowed over this Ocean once frozen with mainly 10 meters of sea ice, now reduced to 1.5 to 2 meters.   therefore the Polar Vortex of late is usually stretched and can split in two,  especially  during a warm winter similar to 2016.    The weather of the Northern Hemisphere is thus rapidly changing by the shrunken Polar Vortex which favors the winter warming of Alaska and Norway,  but cooling at times of Central Southern Russia  and Midwest North America during winter.  As an example I use the Polar Vortex event of January 29 2019:

                             White Lake         Fairbanks
                            Michigan  USA  Alaska USA
January 29              -19.7                     -11.5
January 30              -39.3                      -9.5
January 31              -28.3 C                  -16.5   700 mb temperatures.

      The North was and is very often warmer some 3000 Southwest miles away

    It is very possible to have such extreme events given the right circumstances.   However winters great deep freezes well South of the Arctic are furtive,  they may not be long lasting,  as White Lake's current +9C weather may attest, compared to Fairbanks current -13 C even still warmish.  As AGW increases,  the weather in many places in the Northern Hemisphere will get even more strange and extreme. WD February 3 2019












   

2019 Polar Vortex has always been in the Sub-Arctic

~Just stretched out a great deal spanning great  distances.
~The 'Meandering Jet Stream' is basically at its extreme periphery
~It is the Polar Vortex cold air/warm air boundary which causes the jet stream,   basically at its extreme periphery

This NOAA 600 mb temperature animation between January 24 to 28 defines the location of the Polar Vortex.  It is very stretched out,  and has vortices with very cold temperatures which form and disperse in a matter of days.  600 mb is the pressure altitude close to the average temperature of the entire troposphere.  

   Even NASA and Dr Jennifer Francis miss these basic features.....

From the Guardian (link here):

    This is not an accurate presentation.  as with NOAA animation above the Polar Vortex was already present South of the Arctic,  and  the "Chicago"  Polar vortice is at its extreme Southern end, was formed a few days ago (as one of many vortices found in the Polar Vortex)

"At the moment the vortex looks like two swirling blobs of cold air, one settled over North America, the other over Eurasia,” said Jennifer Francis, the senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. “It splits up when there is sudden stratospheric warming.”

      The Polar Stratospheric Vortex has more than 10 times less pressure than the Tropospheric Polar Vortex,  its weighted temperature influence is thus  at least 10 times less important than temperatures in the lower Troposphere,  especially near the ground or sea surface.  The warmth over the Arctic Ocean as captured by the NOAA animation above closely depicts where the thinnest sea ice exists , or where the Arctic Ocean open water was  at yearly sea ice extent minima in September 2018.  The impact of thinner sea ice is obvious here.  I have checked the temperatures in the Stratosphere,  and they also reflect the heat from thinner sea ice escaping to space,  if there was a recent warming,  a 10 degree warming can only influence the troposphere below roughly more than 10 times less.    WD January 31 2019

Many weather presentations are off kilter, they miss the meaning of the non Arctic CTNP

~At present the Dakotas USA  -36 C 700 mb temperature is the coldest in North America
~Most weather medias present this latest "Polar Vortex"  event originating from the Arctic
~But the Arctic upper air is warmer than the Dakota CTNP (Cold Temperature North Pole),  how does this happen?

   CMC 700 mb temperatures 30/00 UTC,  these are actual balloon measurements, look at Dakota -36 C easily warmer colder than in the High Arctic.  Note 600 mb is close to the true level which represents the weighted temperature of the entire Troposphere. 

Not having any other charts available, University of Maine 500 mb pressure heights clearly depict potentially the coldest vortice within the Polar Vortex.  Clearly not in the Arctic. 

       The frequent misnomer used by weather medias naming and blaming  "Arctic Air"  is not quite always accurate, in this case the colder air vortice built itself well South of the Arctic,  which means,  a  thinner continental snow cover canopy twinned with clear air with low sun elevation at noon ,  along with longer dark nights than daylight can create colder than Arctic temperatures in the South of it.      A rapid Plains USA fluctuation in temperatures is soon to follow ,  with upcoming much warmer temperatures in a few days,  is merely a representation on how thinly spread out the cold air areas are,  or not really re-enforced by the Arctic,  but rather a fleeting happenstance generated by a steady in origin large Anticyclone.  WD January 30, 2019

Polar Vortex 2019, record cold weather in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere, an explanation

~The key in explaining is found in Global Warming
~And the clues abound all around
~Main bit of evidence starts from the ground.


   I leave the NY Times deal with the struggle to explain basic science dismantled by ignorant politicians.   But the Times  also have ably described the return of a particularly cold dreaded Polar Vortex,  which unbeknown to many Americans,  has visited Canada a couple of times already (some parts of Canada's neighborhood as  well).  In a truly normal winter,  say pre 1990's,  a cold wave would have hit Florida by now,  instead of slowing down its Southward advance at the 'wall' of a warmer USA.    The question still lies,  why so much colder?

University of Maine 2 m temperature basically displays  as cold surface air South of the Canadian Arctic as in the Arctic.  

Just how it gets so cold south of the Arctic is relatively easy to deduce considering 2 geophysical factors: snow or especially less or none,  cloud extent and especially few or none......

  Here is the biggest indice: December 2018 was warm,  very warm,  with the Cold Temperature North Pole in Northern Russia.  Warmer in winter can only mean less snow on the ground especially in the great continental interior lands.  

     The latest cutting edge refraction observations have revealed the main reason  why this  years vortex gathered strength even if not expansive:  less snow on the ground.  This has been observed optically,  all confirmed with thermistors.  The heat capacity of soil is less than air,  thus soil barely covered by snow during days with very low sun elevations twinned with lesser cloud extent, guaranties rapid cooling.   These two geophysical facts feedback on each other,      colder air implies less snow,  no winter clouds provides colder air.   These two create anticyclones,  long lasting high pressures during winter darkness create incredible cooling.

  This January 29 2019 CMC IR picture gives an idea of how much snow on ground there is,  not much throughout North America.

              There is less snow in North America than Eurasia,  it is to date,  a meek snow cover year. 

       Rogue vortices spin away from the Polar Vortex especially when the Vortex is stretched thin,  which is also what is happening.  The essential look of 2019 is a much warmer Alaska continuously warmed by the Pacific sst Blob cyclones,  which turned the jet stream strait towards Chicago,    only now we have a gathering of much colder air which took a month or so to gain extent and to permeate heavily populated areas.   WD January 28 2019

  

Mars Inversion moisture trap, insulation power keeping water from escaping to space

~ESA great capture of trapped in a crater ice infers a lot of water on Mars
~The trap is a cooled atmospheric interface,   much similar to what sea ice does
~No sea ice,  none or far weaker inversions,  less sea ice possible as a result

ESA composite picture of a Mars North Pole crater called Korolev,  has amazingly similar sea ice features on Earth, likely there is snow as well.  But the greatest feature,  the reason why there is frozen water  in the North Polar Martian region,  is exactly the same as the over abundance of ice near Earth Poles:  inversions.   Remove the inversion,  and massive sublimation occurs,  because there is an inversion,  the moisture in air is trapped within a shallow layer,  reducing the possibility of sublimation especially if the atmosphere is near 100% saturated with water vapor.    Korolev crater gives the impression that there is a great deal of water in Martian underground.   But this moisture has very little chance of staying within an atmosphere 95% CO2.   We can see here something equally similar to the disappearance of glaciers on Earths polar regions:

We can see here evidence of recently evaporated/sublimated smaller snow glaciers by the lighter soil colors,   Mars soil is mainly oxidized red,  suggesting rust,  small glaciers remove contact with the atmosphere, after time they likely strip the top rust by small calving process,  but once the small glacier evaporates/sublimates,  it leaves behind its imprint.  Arctic rock strewn lands having small glaciers exhibit exactly the same feature,  except Arctic small glaciers are disappearing very rapidly,  they leave behind a lighter rock surface color for much shorter time periods ,  unlike Mars .13% oxygen content,  Earth's atmosphere is rich in  Oxygen.    Further evidence of snow on top of ice can be seen here:

        Snow or ice crystal drifts can be seen in this ESA's Mars Express topographic image.
Within the thin inversion ice crystals likely fall back to the surface and sublimate upwards in an endless process similarly within a closed climatic system,  over a long period of time falling ice crystals may gather high insulating the ice further.   WD December 25, 2018

Mars InSight landing spot photos suggest not so deep permafrost

~Atmospheric refraction of a CO2 atmosphere is probably visible,  more dedicated photos are required though.
~First photographic hints at very slight horizon refraction
~Given the thinness of the atmosphere, much of this of course was expected,  but further very serious photography should be undertaken.

    Mars has a 6 mb atmosphere,  169 times less weighty than on Earth.  Not many refraction specialists believe it capable of causing some atmospheric mirages,  but near the horizon,  the game changes, at that level,  we look at a much thicker atmosphere.  Consider what we always knew,  Mars landscape looked carved by water ever since a closer telescopic look at the planet was achieved.   Now that we have access to a probe capable of staying still,  by refraction optics we can see if there is any ice permafrost,  which can give a spectacular effect similar to sea ice horizons on Earth.

     Ice and Martian soil should have different specific heat capacity,  ice has most certainly  a greater heat capacity, which means that it affects the soil right over it,  in particular,   when the cloudless sunny sky  hits a pure rocky outcrop,  the air right above warms up rapidly,  this may cause a "road mirage"  like on Earth,  however subtle likely so on Mars, but none heard of so far.   Examples here show no rapid lowering,  a sure sign of a permeating factor.  Here we study the Martian horizon,  by NASA design from a probe not moving around all over the place:

NASA InSight December 5 and 7 2018 .  15:27  and at 11:34 local mean solar time respectively,  the 5th has greater shadow to the right.  The robotic arm has likely moved around, and is placed back not always exactly  in this same resting spot.   The pictures are aligned,  with your mouse pointer, verify carefully the positions of nearest rocks,  now look at the horizon.  Point your mouse at any point on the horizon line,  you will see the darker image having a very slightly higher horizon throughout.  The darker image is nearest local noon, with warmest sun effects,  was likely taken with an optical filter.  If there is near surface permafrost the horizon should eventually lower,  in this case the horizon lowered perhaps further and is now rising towards the near noon height, meaning the ground horizon has sea ice properties,  namely frozen water....

  Experience on Earth dictates:  top of sea ice warms enough to lower the horizon after local apparent noon, given no great weather change,   this usually happens a few hours after noon.  The brighter image here is at 3:27 PM usually at about the same time when the sea ice horizon reaches lower point on Polar Earth.

     CO2 Martian atmosphere may cause different refraction effects,  namely 95% CO2 concentration surely gives a great  warming potential,  so the surface should warm really rapidly when the sun rises, again a dry rocky substratum horizon should lower at local apparent noon,  not take a few hours as on Earth.  Which as we know,   on any given sunny day without much great weather circulation,  noon is not the warmest time of day.

   A rudimentary model using refraction index of CO2 gas,  incidentally greater than air at standard pressures and temperatures,  calculates a very small shrinking of the vertical sun disk equally at  the horizon.  However,  the interplay between Martian soil, permafrost and CO2 atmosphere is novel,  more studying is needed.  WD December 9 2018

North American West Coast healthy rainy seasons need normal sea ice extent

~ Long ignored sea ice climate permutations manifest big time

~ We look at mainly the North Pacific

~ Current El-Nino can only exacerbate bent Northwards general circulation 

   Although its pleasant climate has apparently nothing to do with ice and snow, there is a rainy season in sunny L.A.  California,  having everything to do with a colder climate to the North.   Through long time late autumn  cycles,  the North got significantly cold mainly because Siberia and Alaska was imbued in longer dark days creating a net lost heat to space.    But sea ice cover within Arctic Ocean  and very North Pacific is an equivalent to land,  also greatly cooled the North,  absent sea ice ,  replaced by warmed sea water,  winter's cold punch  has dulled,  especially since 2007,  but very much seriously lately:

NOAA November 12 2018 sst anomalies  Further North, they call it the blob,  the great North Pacific surface warming has a lot to do with the lack of cooling during winter,  because there is a feedback loop between less sea ice extent and more low clouds.  Even less radiation leaving to space favors the presence of huge Cyclones :  

The implied late autumn black line should be the location of the polar jet stream given the latest sea ice extent losses.  Fortunately often present massive North Pacific cyclones bend the jet to its South (red line),  but this means the North Pacific is covered with clouds for vaster periods,  not cooling the sea surface to space.  This also implies a shift in rainy season of the West North American coast,  well Northwards,  this current climate scene was not always so  :

  Given a normal sea ice scenario,  pre 1998,  a shift in the Polar jet stream well to the South of its latest decadal tendencies  gave the recorded fall and winter  coastal rainy seasons climate which was importantly wetter than latest recent years.   WD November 15 2018

Major Polar Vortex rearrangement

~Siberia gets back it's freezing mojo
~Canadian Arctic Upper Air is remarkably warm
~A confluence of wider Arctic Ocean open water and thinner North of Greenland sea ice killed the great Canadian  Arctic Archipelago super cold vortex of 2018 about 10 days ago
~Asymmetric in size Arctic Polar vortex consequences for winter 18-19

09 0000 UTC CMC 700 mb chart with colour ( by me),  blue zone -20 to -25 C,  pink -25 to -30,  red below -30 C.    Demonstrates a great disparity in coldest  temperatures between North America and Eurasia,  Siberia regained its famed coldest weather in the Northern world.   While the North American side will undoubtedly be varnished with a much warmer winter with strange Polar Vortex rogue vortices causing sudden extreme weather events.    Such example is happening now,  a midwest North American vortice  formed colder than anything currently  in the Arctic,  it is not a cold from the Arctic blast,  it is a very exotic,  I would say interesting,  rogue vortice which will cause havoc over a much larger Anerica basking in above average weather.    On the other continent,  if this is the coming winter Polar Vortex arrangement,   UK, Scandinavia and Moscow will be wet like London of old.  While Japan and Alaska will benefit with much warmer and yes wet weather. 

   As far as sea ice is concerned,  it was to blame for this climate rearrangement.  In near total darkness CAA never really got a chance to go deep cold,  because there was no Arctic Basin deep long night enhanced cooling, stopped by unprecedented open water North of Greenland,  which became thinner,  but still  releasing more heat ,  contributing in tandem with a once near 1 million km2 square wider open water  heat release bonanza ultimately decimating the great North American Vortex of 2018 ,  it nearly lasted a year.    The current  pumping of Pacific blob sea surface heat is reaching to near Greenland,  greatly impeding a strong Canadian vortex to form.    This new climate scene will cause a different ice accretion geographic distribution,  already drastically warming Bering sea area, no accretion ,  and cooling further  the North Pole (needed accretion),    the latter has sea ice already in place,  the former has open water not to freeze so fast....WD November 9 2018

2018 sea ice refreeze is identical to melting to minima in reverse slow motion

~Today's 2018 JAXA extent is #1 lowest within historical record

~Since minima refreeze pattern almost exact melting in reverse

~There is no doubt that fresh less dense surface melt water is necessary for more rapid refreeze

 JAXA 13 to 19 October extent map closely resembles the melt process flipped backwards,  Fram Strait is overwhelmed with easy flowing sea ice from the trans polar current reformed and re-ignited  along with the  Central Arctic Basin  gyre.    Even with Fram surface waters really warm the ice cover gets renewed daily,  in short a more normal ice dumping scene with much warmer water:

Elsewhere  October 21 CMC SST's are still quite warm,  it takes -1.8 C water for sea water to freeze.  Despite greater darkness 0 C waters North of East Siberian sea is astounding,  the Atlantic front ice border remains stable and Bering Chukchi seas super warmed waters guaranty a further slower refreeze,  which makes this map interesting:

   A JAXA back to the future moment,  but we are currently 29 days away from minima,  as opposed
to this 19 days remove sep 3 JAXA eerily similar map to today absent Fram Strait.  The CAB is not refreezing well largely because of great cloud coverage and very warm sst's,  which gives a surface temperature feedback loop of warming.  These two factors made 2018 overall #1 lowest extent especially along with very thinned central CAB sea ice, made perfectly obvious by the presence of nearly permanent Arctic Ocean overcast with clouds and the lack of an anticyclone over the North Pole,  which always happened in the past at the start of the long Arctic night.  The biggest news is for larger populations further South,  an abnormal winter awaits them. 

CMC October 24,  sign of compaction in North Pole to Greenland sector, with finally a High pressure,  an extension first  originating from the Canadian Archipelago South.  A very unusual,  unique,  very loose pack North Greenland sea ice was present throughout end of melting season.  Now we can attest,  this anomaly has largely frozen over.   A North Pole High following Minima usually means the start of winter,   about 3 weeks late. 

WD October 21,  last GIF October 24, 2018