Science behind the big freeze: is climate change bringing the Arctic to Europe?

The North Pole has moved down to Europe? Impossible! But the snow & ice that should be falling on the Arctic.Circle falling instead on Europe is hard to dismiss.

Magnetic north has indeed moved into Siberia during the past decade.
A polar flip does not mean the Earth will turn upside down as so many believe.
But this doesn't explain Arctic weather in Europe. That is caused by reduced sea ice which causes a reversal in the Arctic oscillation we've been seeing for the past few winters.

Hold on to your hats, Joe and Sally, because we are in for a wild ride!

that we are

Support Al Gore and others explaining that connection and help them do it. Isn't that what Current is for? Isn't that what the Internet is for? I made three videos about climate extremes in 2011 with information in them and placed them everywhere I could. Hopefully people saw them and understand this connection better. Raising awareness and explaining the connection is essential now. We can all be a part of that.

Thanks Jan. I have a friend who heads excavations looking for Sir John Franklin's grave site in the high arctic. He went this summer and said that there was more open water than he had ever seen before. He also said that even though more artifacts are being uncovered it is getting harder and harder to navigate around the areas that use to be frozen. Pretty soon we will lose a lot of the history from that time as more and more open water buries it forever.

great point...the polar bears are hating it too

Yes, pretty soon Polar Bears in the wild will be extinct.

it also doesn't help that the seals are dying with radiation poisoning...sad to watch

Polar bears are simply an evolved (adapted) breed of grizzly, and I firmly believe in the resiliance of life. I think the polar bears may take a hit in populations mostly as the new climate patterns affect thier hunting, not as much thier surroundings. They are strong, agile, intelligent, and considered to be among the very best of survivalist on the planet, they will survive, we just may not recognize them in a few generations.

Yes and that effects the food source up here too. Intuit eat raw seal meat. Can you imagine the impact it will have on their lives if they become exposed to radiation or have to stop eating the seal because it is unsafe? The Northwest Territories and Nunavut have such small populations compared to our land mass, which is loaded with natural resources, so we have little say on what happens up here. We don't even get to keep the royalties from all the mining and drilling. It goes directly to the Canadian federal government. So you can see there is little incentive for the federal government to change it ways.

Good one. It looks like I'm on high ground. Most of Australia and all of India would be a wading pool. And look at what would happen to the American south.

that's me...guess I should consider the Appalachians

It would be even funnier if this weren't the way so many people "think."

And this doesn't even show the lowest sea ice extent in 2007. What is more, the ice is getting thinner every year.

We haven't seen any real sign of winter here in Southern Ontario either. The locals have already begun to call it the winter that never came. I asked an elderly gentleman, probably in his late 70s if he had ever seen anything like this before. He said "I have seen warm days in Jan., Feb. and March, but I have never seen anything like this". The concern on his face was obvious.

Just speak to the elders up here. Those that still live off the land are finding it harder to find safe hunting grounds. It is even worse in Nunavut. Last winter, Iqaluit had a winter thaw. This year they had a major water break that flooded the City. What a mess they had. If you don't think all the expanding and contracting of the permafrost does not have any effect on our water and sewer pipes, your nuts. But don't let that stop deniers.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/07/permafrost-melt-500-billion-tons-of...
Check this out. Permafrost melting is very troublesome.

Thanks Jim. I see it happening first hand up here, but the aerial shot from NASA and this article you posted put it into perspective. Now I fear that the world will be in deep shit in my lifetime. The warming up here has certainly speeded up the last few years and I don't see it slowing down. Especially since Harper just approved production of another tar sands north of Fort McMurray. We will soon have another pipeline to argue about. Mankind is natures worst enemy I'm afraid.

I couldn't agree more.

Who denies climate change? I don't know of a single person who denies that the climate changes - it always changes!

Nice try.

And anyone who watched that video then read your statement will see who truthful that professor was.

See the spinach tart tactic!

Wow IceKat, now your denying denial. That could be a whole new psychological conversation. You do realize that at some point you are going to have to start calling yourself SlushKat right?

Annoying, isn't it, when I can show real-world evidence that no-one here can dispute... and you, of all people, label me a fool?
Fools fall for anything, maybe that's why you're so easily led into believing any old crap posted by extremist activists.

I don't know... I follow the words of Christ. Am I worthy to you?

Hold a grudge much?

"Rising air destabilises the atmosphere and alters the difference in air pressure between the Arctic and more southerly regions, changing wind patterns."

Yes, that's how weather works. Or are you trying to tell me that the atmospheric pressure between Arctic weather systems has always been stable until now? What causes weather in the Arctic and northern Europe? Is weather allowed to happen everywhere else except for the Arctic and northern Europe?
Have you got absolutely no idea about pressure systems or how the atmosphere works?
And for your information, the ice cap has not been removed, it is still very much in evidence.

Again, all you're doing is spewing ad-hominem crap.

Grow up ;)

Why don't you present some science to disprove the real-world evidence I presented instead of acting like a stupid little child, shouting and screaming until you get what you want.
I don't mind debating sensible people but you really just show yourself to have a rather immature attitude - to say the least.
I can't be bothered to reply anymore until you have something worth replying to.

Nice to see the consensus is growing! Most extremists here only state that 97% of climate scientists disagree with sane and normal people. Fortunately, the 97% claim turns out to be a total fallacy anyway. The climate scam is run by barely a hand-full of people, mostly discredited 'scientists' who withhold data and won't release their methodology.

Refute what? You haven't written anything that makes the slightest sense.

Ain't that the truth. I've given up trying to reason with icekat. He is completely unreasonable. He has his agenda which is to disrupt and confuse. I don't know how he sleeps at night.

I applaud your perseverance in trying to convince IceKat with actual evidence. Tell him to come up to the Arctic and see what havoc the melting of the Ice Caps are having on our environment. It was plus 8c last night when our normal weather for this time of year should be in the -20s. Climate change is happening no matter how hard they want to deny it.

Discredited by whom? I encountered some interesting scientific conjecture recently concerning the BP's oil spill and it's effect on the gulf stream's change of course and temperature. This would most certainly affect the weather in Northern and Central Europe,,,IE a winter of extreme and catastrophic proportions. Science be damned along with reality.

There is no shifting drum beat. I've been reading for years that to call it global warming was misleading. It should have called global weirding. As the Earth average temperature increases it destabilizes weather patterns. Some places get wetter, others dryer. Some places get warmer, others colder. The mere fact that we are loosing the polar ice caps should be evidence enough that something is going on.

Deniers know that but they have nothing else but to try to engage you ( in general ) in a conversation so they have an excuse to post another bs half graph. They only want attention. They have no facts.

Well done, that just about encompasses everything. It doesn't matter what happens, whether it gets warmer or cooler, whether there's more rain or a drought, less snow or rain... you name it, it's now "global weirding".
And if you care to look carefully, you'll notice we aren't losing the ice caps. However, I'll grant you that the Arctic did undergo a fluctuation in ice extent, but that's nothing new unless you think the world began in 1970?

Is this the first ever severe winter in Europe? Of course not, a lot of winters have been worse than this.

Deniers of reality know that but they have nothing else but to try to engage you (in general ) in a conversation so they have an excuse to post another bs half graph or some sort of propaganda video. They only want attention. They have no facts.

Ad-hominem crap.

Grow up.

Had the deniers who swooped in and voted everything down actually watched this maybe they would have learned something. But they obviously aren't interested in learning.

They have no refutation. They have no credibility. But what they do have is culpability and blood on their hands. Hopefully one day we will see them on trial for crimes against humanity.

For once I actually decided to watch one of your propaganda videos in the hope that there might be some scientific facts. Sadly I didn't get past the opening credit, for when I saw the name Peter Sinclair, one of the most debunked propagandists, I decided not to go any further. Sorry, but I prefer real facts from real scientists without ideological and political agendas.

"They have no credibility." Hey, that's what I've been saying about you for a while now, only difference is I managed to prove it over and over again!
Any chance of you answering some of the questions I've been asking for months? No, because you can't - the answers aren't in Skepticalscience or Romm's blog!!! :)

It is a proven fact that a person will deny what is obvious so they do not have to feel responsible for curing it, or guilt when they do nothing.

And I say to you also, "It is a proven fact that a person will deny what is obvious so they do not have to feel responsible for curing it, or guilt when they do nothing."

Are you in fact one of the "Do Nothing" people? Do you recycle? Do you try to limit how much water you use? What do you do for your fellow man?

Yep..ya got a point

It's a psychological mechanism rooted in fear and powerlessness.

You may have a point there....what people fear they tend to destroy, or try to anyway.

I'm afraid we've passed the tipping point of no return.
We could have prevented it, or at least slowed it down, 20 years ago and maybe even 10 years ago. But from what we are witnessing in the Arctic and Antarctic in the past few years it seems we have done too little too late.

I fear you may be right, but I just can't give up. My son deserves better. All of our children do.

"I'm afraid we've passed the tipping point of no return. "

Not at all extremist, eh? :)

Absolutely, loads of charts and graphs, real-world evidence, data by the bucket-load (see previous comments)... but people here don't like that sort of thing. If it isn't endorsed by Joe Romm or on the Skepticalscience website they tend to get a little lost.

How about you, anything scientific and factual to offer, or are you happy to just scribe meaningless sentences to me?

I think you'll be waiting till hell freezes over. :)