This is the final day of Polar Week, and what a week it has been! A week ago today, Kevin Pluck and I launched our joint venture, Pixel Movers & Makers.
Kev and I have been secretly toiling on this venture every night for months now, and we were thrilled to present a poster and a short sample animation at the APECS Workshop on Antarctic Hydrology & Ice Shelf Stability at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in February. The response and support we’re received so far from the polar community is very heartening.
We’re currently creating an animation about Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, a melting, accelerating glacier up to 3 km (~1.8 miles) tall and about 400 km (250 miles) long.
We’ve been sharing our process on Twitter and Facebook:
We’re also blogging about our process in more depth.
In personal news, I was pleased to co-present a workshop on effective online science communication at Boston University with Dr. Laura Schifman. We talked about scientists taking control of their science communication by writing effective blog posts for the public and how to harness the power of social media. Thanks to Claudia Mazur for inviting us. We’re now looking for opportunities to take our show on the road!
So, it’s been a rather busy year thus far. There’s still a lot happening in ice news, so I’m providing a list of links below that you may want to check out.
First, the state of our vital sea ice.
Sea Ice
The National Snow & Ice Data Center tells us:
Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its annual maximum extent on March 17. This is the second lowest Arctic maximum in the 39-year satellite record. The four lowest maximum extents in the satellite record have all occurred in the past four years.
...in the Southern Hemisphere, sea ice reached its minimum extent for the year on February 20 and 21, at 2.18 million square kilometers (842,000 square miles). This year’s minimum extent was the second lowest in the satellite record, 70,000 square kilometers (27,00 square miles) above the record low set on March 3, 2017.
Let’s zoom in a little… 
ARCTIC
NSIDC
NSIDC
ANTARCTIC
NSIDC
NSIDC
Polar News & Links
- More precise measurements show West Antarctica ice melt accelerating
- New Maps Highlight Antarctica’s Flowing Ice
- Sustained climate warming drives declining marine biological productivity summarized in this Washington Post article.
- NASA Studies an unusual Arctic warming event
- Researchers Drilling Into Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf Make A Genuinely Surprising Discovery
- Warmer, saltier polar water could change global ocean currents
- There’s Worrying New Evidence That Arctic Soils Are Releasing Ancient Stored Carbon. Study here.
And just for fun:
What does it sound like when you drop ice down a 90 m (295 feet) borehole in an Antarctic glacier? Prepare to be surprised!
POLAR BIRD 