NASA | The Arctic and the Antarctic Respond in Opposite Ways

The Arctic and the Antarctic are regions that have a lot of ice and acts as air conditioners for the Earth system. This year, Antarctic sea ice reached a record maximum extent while the Arctic reached a minimum extent in the top ten lowest since satellite records began. One reason we are seeing differences between the Arctic and the Antarctic is due to their different geographies. As for what's causing the sea increase in the Antarctic, scientists are also studying ocean temperatures, possible changes in wind direction and, overall, how the region is responding to changes in the climate.

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[johann]

I just want to see some footage of Antarctica from out of space...

[kaupaxup]

Damn I wish this was longer... felt like they cut it short. I'd like to see a more detailed discussion of this.

[zerotoleranceu]

You got that? The ice caps are the "canary in the coal mine" when they're shrinking and they're not the "canary in the coal mine" when they are expanding they're a "bit of a mystery." LOL

[cloverthesilenthorse]

About your title:

Antarctica: HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Arctic: WHAT

[johnarizona]

The Earth is and has always been in a state of change from cooling to warming and back again. Focus on stopping pollution and drop the "Global Warming" bit.

[thrtbr]

Having a flashback to Al Gore's 2007 prediction that "all arctic ice would be gone by 2014". lulz

[vitaliesurugiu]

LOL, global warming melts ice in Arctic but extend the ice in Antarctic.

[MARSTVCHANNEL]

GW scientist logic: As the global temperatures are rising, this makes the ice melt, and therefore the Antarctic shows a record gain in ice coverage.

[enkii]

The answer is simple as to why antarctica is expanding 1/3 slower than the contracting arctic--> it takes longer time to build than to destroy. It takes a longer time to build a house than to smash it into ground. Formation of permanent ice takes a time.

[lightsidemaster]

Could it be that the antarctic ice is spreading because the ice on the landmass of the antarctic is sliding into the ocean?
Of course the surface area is very important regarding the reflected solar radiation but I think the ice volume should be measured aswell not just the area.

[arobinson]

Milankovic Cycles. The North tilts closer to the sun for longer, by extension, the South faces away and vice versa.

[robhuhges]

These guys have a couple of decades of decent data and think they know how the polar regions work in geological time.

[Rotming]

what is this ? we gon ignore the fact that theres more ice than before and put it under ''mystery'' category and forget it and concentrate on the temperatures are rising causing ice to melt thing ? what is this ? this is called being biased

[presidentmegtawma]

How does the arctic ice decrease in the winter, when the temperature is continuously below freezing? How do you measure the loss of ice, year after year when the ice cap gain has been above average 11 of the last 13 years, and the polar ice this winter is the same in coverage and thickness as it was in 1978. In 1978, by the way, scientists insisted we were headed into a global ice age, based on a 20 year trend.

Whoa. 20 years. omg.

[GreggHess]

So let me see if I have this correct:
This "scientist" said;
Arctic ice melt is a sign of global warming.
Antarctic ice increase (growth of ice not seen in decades) does not mean there is no global warming.
Record rainfall: Global Warming
Record drought: Global Warming
Record snowfall: Global Warming
Lack of snowfall: Global Warming
Record low temperatures: Global Warming
Record high temps: Global Warming
Floods: Global Warming
Hurricane frequency increase: Global Warming
No hurricanes: Global Warming
Storms and tornadoes: Global Warming
Normal weather patterns: Global warming

[bobplatt]

'It's important to see the relationship between the Arctic and Antarctic because studying those gives us an indication of what  changes were going to see around the rest of the globe in the future'...  'The increase were seeing in the antarctic is a little bit of a mystery' >>>>      Its not a mystery! Global warming doesn't create ice. 

[mattbrownruns]

"this year" That's all I needed to hear. Thanks.

[guydecervens]

"The Arctic and the Antarctic ... are the regions where we see the biggest effects of climate change .. and the biggest effects of warming. This year the Antarctic sea ice has expanded beyond anything we've seen before and set a new record."

[calebmiller]

Antarctic increase a mystery?  What is happening in the Antarctic is the coastal water is evaporating and then falling as snow making more ice.

So much of this warming idea comes from just the last 100 years, when we have pretty good record of the last billion years, certainly the last 500 million years.  The average temperature of the earth has, for most of that time span, been 22-25 degrees Celsius.  Average temperature today is about 14 (we are just coming out of a mini-ice age which is classified as under 12 degrees average temperature).  

Also, humans are a tropical species, we evolved for a couple million years at the equator before fire and clothing came about so to think a 2 degree temperature increase could be bad for humans is preposterous, humans (and life in general) thrive in greenhouse ages.

Also, 450 million years ago we had an ice age in which there was 10 times as much CO2 in the atmosphere, so this idea that CO2 is warming the atmosphere (while there has been some correlation)  is not yet conclusive, too many counter examples.  For the last 18 years in fact there has been no net warming of the atmosphere, and yet 32% of all the CO2 humans have emitted since the beginning of the industrial revolution was emitted during that time.  

CO2 is around 400 ppm, its increasing very rapidly as my last statement showed, but the optimum levels for plant growth (including all trees and all our food and crops) is 1500 ppm nearly 4 times what it is today (side note: the average for the last 400 million years is ~2000 ppm)

This has been my global warming rant, thank you.  

[doctorkhan]

Arctic vs Antarctic ice variations as mentioned seems confusing by intention by Nasa.