The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Ice, ice, baby

Coincident with last week's release of Chasing Ice, a documentary about how climate change is affecting the polar regions, this month's Scientific American looks at how sea ice loss causes extreme weather.

In the article—unfortunately behind a tall paywall—Charles Greene demonstrates how the loss of Arctic sea ice allows large loops in the mid-latitude jet stream to form, and to persist. Last winter, a negative Arctic oscillation combined with a positive North Atlantic oscillation (which controls weather in Europe) to keep most of the U.S. warm and most of Europe cold.

(If I can figure out how to connect my print subscription to their digital offer, I'll quote more extensively.)

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