I'm not sure about all of this. It seems as if people will grasp at any statistic to continue to prove global warming through the measured deterioration of Arctic sea ice.
Firstly it was polar bears 'dwindling' ..... then it is sea ice extent ...... then its sea ice 'thickness' .... and now its "new ice" vs. "old ice". Come on !
Lets get back to some basics ...
• Since the 1970s, while much of the world was warming, polar bear numbers increased dramatically, from roughly 5,000 to 25,000 bears -- a higher polar bear population than has existed at any time in the twentieth century.
• the polar bear population in Canada alone has increased 25 percent from 12,000 to 15,000 during the past decade, with 11 of Canada's 13 polar bear populations stable or increasing in number.
• Only two bear populations -- accounting for about 16.4 percent of the total number of bears -- are decreasing, and they are in areas where air temperatures have actually fallen, such as the Baffin Bay region.
• By contrast, another two populations -- about 13.6 percent of the total number -- are growing, and they live in areas where air temperatures have risen, near the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea.
•As for the rest, 10 populations representing about 45.4 percent of the total number of bears are stable, and the status of the remaining six populations is unknown.
And here is the sea ice extent .... you don't need to fish around for something that will get you worried ....
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpgWhat exactly is the problem here ?
