White House warned on Arctic ice loss

By Dr Nafeez Ahmed / via Guardian. National security officials worried by rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice overlook threat of permanent global food shortages. Senior US government officials are to be briefed at the White House this week on the danger of an ice-free Arctic in the summer within two years. The meeting is bringing together Nasa’s acting chief scientist, Gale…

NASA: Arctic Ocean Currents Changed

The transpolar drift (purple arrows) is a dominant circulation feature in the Arctic Ocean that carries freshwater runoff (red arrows) from rivers in Russia across the North Pole and south towards Greenland. Under changing atmospheric conditions, emergent circulation patterns (blue arrows) drive freshwater runoff east towards Canada, resulting in freshening of Arctic water in the…