On the subject of aid to third world or troubled countries,
ALTRAV,
I wonder if there was a way to stop our Govt from sending foreign aid money ? How much are they sending to our own natural/bureaucratic policy disaster victims ?
How could such an anti Money Foreign Aid policy be challenged & changed here ? Would it be a good weapon for an opposition party ?
All I want to see is average Australians earning a decent living instead of sending literally billions out of this country for nothing in return but hordes of faux refugees !
Spending the aid money on manufacturing aid goods here would be a total win, win all around.
How would the Leftists feel about such a policy ? Paul1405, SteeleRedux et al please offer your views on foreign aid.

Dear Josephus,

Go read you bloody article mate. It is the rate of growth after a summer minimum which is increasing.

It goes on to say;

"Temperatures in the Arctic have warmed much faster than temperatures in tropical locations. The doubled rate of warming has led to increasingly smaller sea ice extents during Arctic summer months and an overall reduction in sea ice."

How on earth do you think this helps your case?

"Temperatures in the Arctic have warmed
SteeleRedux,
Only a couple of days ago I was watching a "Deadly Pole to Pole" episode where Steve Backshall
described more ice covering the Arctic Sea than usual which made it very difficult for Beluga Whales !

"Authorities in the Kazakhstan capital of Nur-Sultan have declared a state of emergency after a week-long winter storm continues to pummel the city with strong winds and heavy snow.
Deputy Minister of Interior of Kazakhstan, Yuri Ilyin, declared the emergency over the weekend.
Since January 23, a total of 645 people have required rescuing from the snowstorms and accompanying drifts".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmnS9ZfEjpI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3ZcI6lICrWN1kD1ke7khJuJGvfvg21-bEZRHYaUQxNX2jsubaNKuQvWzE

All the snow has gone from Global warming, this must be white foam put there by Climate deniers. Ha

I think that the major seasons will be more extreme from now on !

Dear individual,

Here is the summary for this December.

“Arctic sea ice extent for November 2019 ended up at second lowest in the 41-year satellite record. Regionally, extent remains well below average in the Chukchi Sea, Hudson Bay, and Davis Strait.

At the end of November and through the first week of December, daily extent was tracking third lowest in the satellite record, behind 2006 and 2016. Average ice extent for the month, however, finished second lowest in the passive microwave satellite record at 9.33 million square kilometers (3.60 million square miles). This was 670,000 square kilometers (259,000 square miles) above the 2016 record low for the month and 1.37 million square kilometers (529,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. Regionally, extent remains well below average in the Chukchi Sea, as well as in Hudson Bay and Davis Strait. Extent is also below average in the Barents Sea, but not as pronounced as has been observed in recent years. Ice now extends to the shore along most of the Russian Arctic and along the coast of the Beaufort Sea. Extent is near average in the East Greenland Sea.”

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2019/12/

The Pole to Pole series was shot in 2013-14.

Here is a spreadsheet of monthly totals since 1979.

ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/seaice_analysis/Sea_Ice_Index_Monthly_Data_by_Year_G02135_v3.0.xlsx

Here is an interactive graph of the Sea Ice Extent where you can compare year to year statistics. Click on 2013 and 2014.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

As you can see those two year's figures for ice extent were below the long term average rather than over it.

Now as Steve Backshall says wind plays a big factor in how free that particular opening from ice. This is amply illustrated by the fact he had to walk his kayak back to shore after initially paddling out. Also as this was a mouth to a river the water flows would have had an impact.

Finally Somerset Island is not in the Arctic Sea as there is no such thing. It isn't regarded as being in the Arctic Ocean either but rather the Canadian Archipelago.