ARCUS | Press Activities

Press Activities | Winter 2007 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Briefing

12 December 2007 � American Geophysical Union Press Conference: Arctic Changes in 2007 Set Records

2007 has been a remarkable year for dramatic step changes in environmental conditions in the Arctic. The extent of the sea ice cover fell to a record minimum in September, breaking the previous record by 23%. Summer Arctic Ocean surface temperatures were much warmer than in years previous by about 5° Celsius (9° Fahrenheit). This level of warming of the upper layer of the central Arctic Ocean has never before been observed. These phenomena were largely the result of solar heating of the upper ocean, as well as northward-flowing warm Pacific waters. The year also set a new record of melting snow over the Greenland Ice Sheet, with snow melt for areas above 2000 meters (7,000 feet) 150% greater than the 1988-2006 average. Scientists with sea ice and ocean systems expertise presented information on the record-setting loss of arctic sea ice during summer 2007.

2007 Fall AGU Arctic Press Conference Powerpoint (AGU07_PressConference_PPT)

Presenters

Michael Steele:
Polar Science Center - Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Donald K. Perovich:
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

John D. Walsh:
President's Professor of Global Change, International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Marco Tedesco:
University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Media Coverage

Extensive media coverage resulted from the press conference. Several recent articles are available below in PDF format.

San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate.com - 13 December 2007

Record Loss of Polar Ice is Chilling New Warning on Warming Climate

by David Perlman

TimesOnline - 14 December 2007

2007: Worst Year for the Environment

by Jonathan Leake and Richard Lovett

National Geographic News - 14 December 2007

Warming Oceans Contributed to Record Arctic Melt

by Mason Inman

CNet News.com - 12 December 2007

Record Heat Sweeps Arctic Sea Ice in 2007