Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?

thinkprogress.org - by Joe Romm - June 30, 2013

(SEE LINKS BELOW FOR 2004 STUDY, 2005 STUDY, AND 2013 CRYOSAT ARTICLE)

Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“).

It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a brutal, record-breaking drought. Is this just an amazing coincidence — or were the scientists right and what would that mean for the future? I ask the authors.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

2013 Article - CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/grl.50193/abstract

2004 Study - Disappearing Arctic sea ice reduces available water in the American west
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003GL019133/abstract

2005 Study - Precipitation Shifts over Western North America as a Result of Declining Arctic Sea Ice Cover: The Coupled System Response
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/EI171.1