text:
Another record low in Arctic sea ice predicted this summer
From the ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE, HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH and "it's an El Niño year" department comes this prediction:
The Arctic is facing a decline in sea ice that might equal the negative record of 2012
Data collected by the CryoSat-2 satellite reveal large amounts of thin ice that are unlikely to survive the summer
Bremerhaven/Germany, 21 April 2016. Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), are anticipating that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean this summer may shrink to the record low of 2012. The scientists made this projection after evaluating current satellite data about the thickness of the ice cover. The data show that the arctic sea ice was already extraordinarily thin in the summer of 2015. Comparably little new ice formed during the past winter. Today Dr Marcel Nicolaus, expert on sea ice, has presented these findings at a press conference during the annual General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna.
Predicting the summer extent of the arctic sea ice several months in advance is one of the great challenges facing contemporary polar research. The reason: until the end of the melting season the fate of the ice is ultimately determined by the wind conditions and air and water temperatures during the summer months. Foundations are laid during the preceding winter, however. This spring, they are as disheartening as they were in the negative record year of 2012. Back then, the sea ice surface of the Artic shrunk to a record low of 3.4 million square kilometres.
"In many regions of the Arctic, new ice only formed very slowly due to the particularly warm winter. If we compare the ice thickness map of the previous winter with that of 2012, we can see that the current ice conditions are similar to those of the spring of 2012 – in some places, the ice is even thinner," Dr Marcel Nicolaus, sea ice physicist at AWI, said today at a press conference during the EGU General Assembly in Vienna.
Together with his AWI colleague Dr Stefan Hendricks, they evaluated the sea ice thickness measurements taken over the past five winters by the CyroSat-2 satellite for their sea ice projection. Seven autonomous snow buoys, which the AWI researchers had placed on floes last autumn, supplied additional important clues. In addition to the thickness of the snow cover on top of the sea ice, the buoys also measure the air temperature and air pressure. A comparison of their temperature data with the AWI long-term measurements taken on Spitsbergen has shown that the temperature in the central Arctic in February 2016 exceeded average temperatures by up to 8 °C.
Buoy data show: the sea ice did not melt during the winter, but it grew slowly
Contrary to a report published by US researchers, this warmth did not result in the thinning of the sea ice cover in some regions over the course of the winter. "According to our buoy data from the spring, the warm winter air was not sufficient to melt the layer of snow covering the sea ice, let alone the ice itself," Marcel Nicolaus explains. During the past winter, the growth of the arctic sea ice was significantly slower than the scientists had expected.
In previously ice-rich areas such as the Beaufort Gyre off the Alaskan coast or the region south of Spitsbergen, the sea ice is considerably thinner now than it normally is during the spring. "While the landfast ice north of Alaska usually has a thickness of 1.5 metres, our US colleagues are currently reporting measurements of less than one metre. Such thin ice will not survive the summer sun for long," Stefan Hendricks, AWI sea ice physicist, explained.
Large amounts of thick pack ice will be carried away by Arctic sea currents before the autumn
Examining the CyroSat-2 sea ice thickness map for this spring, Stefan Hendricks further explained: "The Transpolar Drift Stream, a well-known current in the Arctic Ocean, will be carrying the majority of the thick, perennial ice currently located off the northern coasts of Greenland and Canada through the Fram Strait to the North Atlantic. These thick floes will then be followed by thin ice, which melts faster in the summer. Everything suggests that the overall volume of the arctic sea ice will be decreasing considerably over the course of the coming summer. If the weather conditions turn out to be unfavourable, we might even be facing a new record low," Stefan Hendricks said.
According to the AWI scientists, the extent of the ice loss will be great enough to undo all growth recorded over the relatively cold winters of 2013 and 2014. AWI researchers observed a considerable decrease in the thickness of the sea ice as early as the late summer of 2015, even though the overall ice covered area of the September minimum ultimately exceeded the record low of 2012 by approximately one million square kilometres. The unusually warm winter has thus contributed to the likely continuation of the dramatic decline of the Arctic sea ice throughout 2016.
The sea ice physicists of AWI regularly report on the state of the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice on the online portal, http://www.seaiceportal.de. All CryoSat-2 ice thickness maps and the measurement series taken by the snow buoys are also available from the portal.
With NSIDC's DMSP F17 satellite out of commision, measuring a new record low might be a bit of a challenge.
Update: I've been traveling the last couple of days, and so missed this note from NSIDC:
Notice (04/19/2016): Daily sea ice concentration updates have improved. On 04/05/2016 a change in the solar panel position to shade the nitrogen tank on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 satellite was made. In doing so, the integrity of the vertically polarized 37 GHz channel (37V) of the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) was compromised. This is a primary channel used in the sea ice processing. On 04/13/16 an additional change in the solar panel position was made.This change has improved the problems we were seeing in the 37V GHz channel. The affected daily files from 04/05 – 04/13 have been removed from distribution.
Update 2: 4/22 7:10 AM PST
Notice (04/21/2016): On 04/05/2016 a change in the solar panel position to shade the nitrogen tank on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 satellite was made. In doing so, the integrity of the vertically polarized 37 GHz channel (37V) of the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) was compromised. On 04/13/16 an additional change in the solar panel position was made. This change had improved the problems we were seeing in the 37V GHz channel for data from April 13 to April 19; however, on April 20, the 37V GHz channel started to produce bad data again. Thus, data from April 20 onward should not be used until further notice. The affected daily files from 04/05 – 04/13 have been removed from distribution.
Source: https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0081
It appears the sea ice data is still unusable when they say "data from April 20 onward should not be used until further notice."
Footnote: NSIDC says conditions with data gathering have improved (on 4/19), but as these screencaps from about 4:26 PM PST today (4/21) show, they still have not announced the issue is resolved and data fully restored.
Does Demonizing the Other Side Promote Constructive Debate Over Climate Change?
Hubble captures birthday bubble
toorightmate
What a magnificent opportunity for homogenisers. The satellite is U/S.
Oh good, maybe all the yachts that got stuck up there in 2013 can finally get out.
englandrichard
Reply to Elmer
Back in 1967/8 the Russians were going to offer up the Arctic for world shipping, this was cancelled due to a political crisis, The offer was not made formal until 1987 or thereabouts.
AndyG55
Even if it does, it will still be way above what is has been for the majority of the current interglacial.
Comparing sea ice as we cease our rise out of the coldest period in the last 10,000 years is a propaganda mugs game.
NevenA
"it's an El Niño year" department
So, how did the sea ice fare in 97/98?
You almost sound happy. :-p
If there is a new record there will be plenty of other sensors out there to record it. And I think that by that the NSIDC will have transitioned to the SSMI/S aboard DMSP F18. Let's hope they do. It's crazy to think that one day the long-term passive microwave data set stops, simply because there are no more sensors up there.
Reply to NevenA
No, not happy, just tired. I drove over 1000 miles in the last two days and simply didn't have the opportunity to see the update at NSIDC.
But, you almost seem happy that sea ice is dwindling. Turnabout is fair play and all that.
I'm sure "Jim" will create yet another fake persona to tell me why that's not true.
Reply to Anthony Watts
I have to wonder though, why NSIDC still shows this on their web page and Twitter page. Neven, you and your two hater friends at that other sea ice blog seem to hell-bent on complaining I missed this, yet NSIDC hasn't bothered to Tweet (see current screencap) or post an update in their sea ice news section (see current screencap with date/time), nor is there any note about it on the NSIDC main page. Seems like they may not want to claim a fix just yet.
NSIDC still has not updated their Arctic extent graph past March 30th either as of this writing.
But, you almost seem happy that sea ice is dwindling.
Well, it's a fascinating spectacle to watch, but it actually has me greatly worried. We need that sea ice to keep certain other things stable (weather, Greenland ice sheet, permafrost). Changes this big, this fast, leave us open to all kinds of things we can't foresee.
Seems like they may not want to claim a fix just yet.
That's right. I talked to Julienne Stroeve at the EGU General Assembly yesterday, and she told me that the problem is caused by a solar panel that was moved to shade a nitrogen tank on the satellite. They moved it again, and this had seemed to have solved the problem. But unfortunately data glitches returned, so now they're not sure if it can be fixed. Switching to the SSMI/S sensor on F18 takes a lot of time and work.
The real question is: What happens next time a sensor stops reporting accurately? The passive microwave data set based on the SSMI/S sensor is long and continuous. It'd be a real shame if it stopped, if only because we need data diversity.
A new notice has appeared on the NSIDC data page, which I added to the body of the text. Recovery doesn't look promising. I'd wager NSIDC staff is meeting about right now to decide to switch to DMSP F18 or to the AQUA/AMSR-E data stream. Either way, a lot of calibration and conversion to keep their dataset whole.
What does that have to do with the present scenario?
This El Nino had it's strongest concentration of heat far west of the 97/98 event (Modoki).
There was no blob of warm water in the northeast pacific.
Are you comparing two El Ninos just because they were strong and recent?
seaice1
Unless there is some intention to imply that El Ninos (Los Ninos) contribute to ice conditions in the Arctic there is not much point mentioning it in the introductory sentence. If EL Ninos do not have any consitent effect then we might as well have said "its an Election year in Mali dept."
It is therefore a perfectly valid question to ask how the ice fared in 1997/98, since El Nino was introduced in the post.
Menicholas
Less frozen Arctic wasteland!
The horror!
Steve Fraser
Reply to Menicholas
Bring on the Arctic clover!
dmacleo
Reply to Steve Fraser
will we see the return of the imaginary elusive arctic penguin ???
Get out the canoes.
I have a question please. The Snow Laboratory at Rutgers University show the extent of snow coverage for the northern hemisphere, measured by satellite has grown over the last 30 years. Rutgers is funded by NASA and NOAA. How does this tally with AGW generally and if ice is not forming to the same extent how come snow coverage is?
Toneb
Reply to Owen
Snow is not a measure of temperature as is sea-ice. Snow falls primarily as a function of moisture penetrating above the cold air around Arctic airmasses. Think the "snowmageddons" of recent years – the one over Washington DC had it's vast quantity of snow driven by air drawn up from the Gulf area. Further, a "wavier" PJS will take snowfields further south.
Sea-ice lives and dies by air temp (and sea temp) only – though this is modulated by air currents from further south – as happened this last winter.
The extent of melting this year will be largely determined by the weather the Spring sees an early melt that creates melt-ponds to reduce albedo.
rah
Reply to Toneb
I don't think that sea ice in general is a very good indicator of global temperature over shorter terms. Too many other variables affecting it like wind, waves, insolation, salinity, and even the passage of ice breakers. IMO the time to be paying attention to sea ice as a predictor of significant climate change is when the summer melt doesn't put a good dent in it over a period of several years and it continues to expand year after year. I would be far more concerned if sea ice locked in most of Greenland and Iceland that seeing a time when 400′ ships could travel the NW passage without an icebreaker leading the way. After all we are still in what is known as an interglacial period called the Holocene aren't we? Isn't it still supposed to be warming?
Nick Stokes
JAXA is unaffected. Here is a current radial plot. Ice is low at present.
http://www.moyhu.org.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/4/jaxaapr.png
Reply to Nick Stokes
That radial plot is great. I've not seen it presented like that before.
As far as less ice goes – good, we need less.
Reply to David Smith
Recovery from the LIA, the COLDEST period of the last 10,000 years.
Maybe some of the old northern Russian harbours will become usable again after 200 or more years of being frozen in.
Why do we need less ice in the Arctic?
Meaningless question.
No was asked because someone posted a stupid statement.
In answer to the question – we don't – it is very bad, as it allows TSI to be absorbed into Arctic waters, which in turn will warm the atmosphere, and alter the PJS's movement.
Basic meteorological thermodynamics BTW.
Correct, and it's not just the impact on albedo, but also on weather in North America and northern Europe. It's not so simplistic as cold = bad, warm = good.
ferdberple
an ice free Arctic would open up huge northern areas to humans. it would also substantially increase heat loss to space, for those worried that the average 15C temperature of the earth is too hot for humans. A species that without technology dies of exposure in anything less than 27C average temperatures.
Oops, some people don't like to see the ice disappear! The 'end is nigh' crowd love to manufacture a good panic. There is nothing to panic about, despite would Neven et al would love us to believe!
I was going to answer Chris et al, but Fredberple has answered it nicely for me.
The North Pole has been ice-free before and I'm sure it will be again, but it won't happen for a long time.
Remember – we aren't designed to survive in the cold. It's not good for us.
Speaking of stupid Toneb is back.
1) Very little TSI falls on the arctic in the first place.
2) Because of the low angle of incidence, there is very little difference between the reflectivity of water and ice.
3) Ice is an insulator, less ice means more of the oceans heat can escape to space.
I just love the way the warmists just keep repeating their lies over and over again, as if anyone cares.
MarkW:
"1) Very little TSI falls on the arctic in the first place"
So you are saying that open waters will not heat up with the sun shining into them?
Not large but significant my friend…..
From: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014JC010232/abstract
"The trends of the solar heat input into the ocean and the open water fraction for 1984–2009 are found to be positive: 0.3%/yr and 0.8%/yr, respectively, at a 99% confidence level. There is an obvious transition region separating the 26 years into two periods: one with moderate change: 1984–2002, and the other with an abrupt growth in both solar heat input and open water fraction: 2003–2009. The impact of the observed changes on the reduction of winter ice growth in 2007 is estimated to be about 44 cm, and a delay in fall freeze-up as about 10–36 days.
Yes …. in winter when the sun literally doesn't come into it.
"I just love the way the warmists just keep repeating their lies over and over again, as if anyone cares"
I just love the way *contrarians* keep repeating myths, over and over again as if anyone cares.
It's called science and repeating untruths because you read them on a Blog does not in any way make your "truths" true.
Strange, I replied to all the ice-maniacs to say that:
a) we are built for warmth not cold
b) ferdberple has replied with pretty much exactly what I was going to say, but he said it more succinctly. Thank you Ferd.
However, my comment got moderated away. Ho, hum.
I see Toneb is going to double down on stupid.
1) Whether water warms or not depends on many things. Intelligent people don't have to have this explained to them. When TSI exceeds the energy being lost to the atmosphere, the water will warm, when it doesn't water will cool. So the amount of TSI impinging on the water matters, plus many other things whether the water is insulated, the temperature of the air vs. the temperature of the water, wind speeds.
To bad the world is not as simple as you and the models are.
2) If it's not large, then by definition, it isn't significant.
4) Looks like Toneb has forgotten that there is a lot of ice in the arctic, even in the summer? Either that or it's getting desperate.
I love the way warmists actually seem to believe that they are doing science.
I guess that's what they are paid to say.
"an ice free Arctic would open up huge northern areas to humans.
it would also substantially increase heat loss to space, for those worried that the average 15C temperature
of the earth is too hot for humans. A species that without technology dies of exposure in anything less than
27C average temperatures."
Heat lost to space occurs primarily in winter…… when there will be ice cover. Even if melted away by late Sept it would soon grow back in the Arctic night.
As for the rest. Really.
RWturner
Toneb says, "Not large but significant my friend…..
This argument clearly demonstrates your misunderstandings. That pay-walled paper only looked at the estimated solar energy flux into the open Arctic waters, not the NET ENERGY BALANCE like MarkW is referring to. The additional heat loss from less ice cover would occur due to basic laws of physics –sea water has higher emissivity than ice and open water conducts heat into air faster than it can radiate through ice and then into air.
You can see from the Ceres data that the net energy balance in the Arctic hardly ever goes positive, with perhaps some positive heat input along the fringes of the Arctic. You can see that by August, before sea ice even really begins to grow, that the entire Arctic begins losing heat into space. You can see that for 10 months of the year the Arctic acts as the Earth's radiator, and the other two months show barely a net positive balance. Any trend in slightly extra solar energy input into the AO would theoretically be offset by higher emissivity and convective heat transfer into the atmosphere from the areas with less ice cover during the 10 months that energy balance is negative.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=CERES_NETFLUX_M
More open ocean would also theoretically lead to more primary productivity and more aerosols, leading to more cloud cover and less solar energy reaching the surface. It would pay the alarmists well to look at all the feedbacks, not just the positive ones.
See later.
Lets get back to the OP……
I am talking of a DIFFERENCE between the Arctic with ice and without ice. Everything else being equal.
Less ice in the summer will ALWAYS result in a warmer ocean. Because TSI is absorbed.
Read the link…
Ice in the winter will always occur and that insulates the ocean from the atmosphere which in that season reduces cooling.
Your many other strawmen are just that.
No "not large" can still mean significant. The link quotes figures for the ice that we have lost already and NOT what will happen if all ice is lost by the end of the melt.
Oh, and do try to be civil my friend
It costs nothing – unless my unravelling of your ignorance is getting to you.
RWTurner:
The heat balance is obviously a complex one and that the Arctic is overall a vast sink to space of LWIR is without question – and that there are just 2 months of the year with a +ve anomaly.
However …..
http://polar.erdc.dren.mil/people/personnel_sid/perovichweb/DKPpdf/2007GL031480.pdf
"An important question is how increased solar heating
during the summer months impacts ice growth and melt in
the subsequent year. Shimada et al. [2006] invoke changes
in the wind-driven ice circulation as an important mechanism
of preserving ice-extent anomalies. Francis and
Hunter's [2006] study suggests that at least in the 1990s
and early 2000s, increased downward longwave fluxes
(promoted by reduced ice concentration) may be one way
for ice extent anomalies to persist.
****However, equally effective
would be a capping of the upper ocean by sea ice before
much of the solar heat has been extracted in late fall,
retaining the warming signal within the ocean-ice system
throughout winter and spring.****
Evidence of substantial
winter ice-bottom melt and halocline warming throughout
the Chukchi Sea [Perovich et al., 2003; Shimada et al.,
2006] suggest that this process is important, though its full
extent and the processes fostering such longer-term preservation
of warming signals are not well understood.
While quantitative attribution requires further work, the coherent spatial
patterns of ice retreat and increases in solar heating shown
in Figure 2 nevertheless suggest that ice-albedo feedback
plays an important role in explaining the observed ice
thinning and reduction in ice extent in the northern Chukchi
Sea and adjacent Arctic Ocean.
Solar energy deposited in the ocean may cause
melting on the lateral edges or on the bottom of ice floes.
However, not all of the additional absorbed solar heat will
contribute to ice melting. Some heat will also be lost to the
atmosphere or stored in the ocean. The partitioning of the
additional solar heat input to the ocean will strongly
influence the magnitude of the ice-albedo feedback and
the overall heat and mass budget of the ice cover. For
example, enhanced lateral melting will directly impact the
ice-albedo feedback by reducing the ice concentration and
further increasing the solar heat input to the ocean. In
contrast, energy stored in the ocean will retard freezing in
the fall, but may not contribute significantly to the ice/albedo
**** my asterisks
sunshinehours1
According to Jaxa, in 2012 on April 20th Arctic sea ice was highest (in history of Jaxa – 2002).
Reply to sunshinehours1
Yes, you can see it as the purple curve on the enlargement.
This basically means that you can conclude nothing about the future of sea ice from the April 20th extent.
KLohrn
Everything appears rather nominal for those 14 years, nice fat chart plot there.
Robert Austin
The best thing about Nick's radial plot is that the radial axis extends all the way to ZERO! Thus we see the actual variation in maximum extents as a small. Even the minimum extent variation is not dramatic with the 2012 outlier excluded. When I see the Arctic ice variations portrayed in this manner, I think Occam's Razor tells us natural variation. But I don't think this is the message that Nick intended to convey.
u.k(us)
I can never get past the "glee" contained in these studies.
When the ice begins to encroach again, as past history indicates it will, they will be nothing more than another data point.
Summoning 'seaice1'…
Reply to dbstealey
Somebody called?
The offer of the bet is still open if you have faith in recovering ice.
Wow, it "might equal the negative record of 2012"? A record that held for almost 4 years? And it was a "negative record"! Head for the hills!
/snark
cephus0
Show a bit of empathy people please. This is dreadful news for fans of sea ice everywhere and not something to be mocked *tsk*.
Reply to cephus0
Like…Prince died from melting sea ice…or sumpin'…
The former artist known as Prince?
What? Too soon?
chaamjamal
maybe so but does that have anything to do with fossil fuel emissions?
Reply to chaamjamal
Hay chaamjamal! " does that have anything to do with fossil fuel emissions?"
That, of course, is the important question; is there a connection? CAGW enthusiasts seem to assume that there is, even in the face of historical evidence that what we are observing is nothing out of the ordinary.
By the way — nice paper you linked to. Good job!
bit chilly
looks like there is some preconditioning going on here,and not of the ice ;). i have read alternate reports that suggest while extent is low volume is up in some areas due to some of those big atlantic storms early in the refreeze season piling layers of ice on top of each other,with much of this pushed into the eastern arctic .
a warm winter in scotland usually sees a cool summer following it, will be interesting to see what happens this year once again in the arctic. my prediction is some ice will melt,and then it will freeze over again the following winter.
one thing is for sure, the entertainment provided on the arctic sea ice forum by frivolousz21 , jd allen, buddy and a few others regarding blow torches, tipping points, new arctic era, apocalyptic melting and were all gonna die pronouncements will be unsurpassed by any other alarmist site .
looking at what is happening in the oceans at the moment, this may be jim hunts only opportunity to have a chance at winning our bet .
William Astley
Will the cult of CAGW celebrate if there is record sea ice in Arctic?
Will there be no extreme weather events if the planet abruptly cools? There are unimaginable cyclic rapid cooling events in the paleo record.
There was a physical reason why there was suddenly the highest sea ice extent in recorded history in the Antarctic. (P.S. The temporary cession of record sea ice in the Antarctic was due to appearance of coronal holes on the sun which create a space charge differential in the ionosphere which causes warming in both hemisphere and warming in the equatorial regions. The coronal holes are thankfully over so we can get back to global cooling.)
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.antarctic.png
There is and was a physical reason why there was a delay in cooling in the Northern hemisphere.
The cult of CAGW should be having a party there is cooling both hemispheres and there is now the start of cooling in the equatorial regions.
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/anomaly/2016/anomnight.4.21.2016.gif
Reply to William Astley
Will, hush your mouth!
You're not supposed to show us the Southern Hemisphere sea ice anomaly. Neven and the haters will be mad as it doesn't fit in with the "end is nigh" narrative!
I think they are just wrong. "Sea Ice" is a 15% construct. Meaning what winter sats 'see' is also 85% open water. Wind, waves, and currents affect that edge greatly. Willing to put money down on early October minimums not being a record minimum, as multiyear ice has built up since 2012.
Yes, the lack of reference to the increases in 2nd through 5th year ice is curious.
Reply to David A
…as seen here…
http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Iceage_2015-2016-2.gif
No, not really as the 2012 melt was the anomaly and that it did not persist thereafter to the same extent was not a surprise.
Tony, you miss the point. Here is what was being said then…
http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-04-21211812.png
Multi year ice is much thicker and does not move as easily. Also wind patterns are not as favorable to moving the ice out of the Arctic as they were in the recent past, as can be seen by the video.
BTW, it was not an anomaly then, it was a "death spiral", the arctic was "screaming"
There has been no real trend in arctic ice for almost a decade now. (The sea ice pause) Global sea ice has been above average more then not for several years now.
Also Tony, NH snow cover has if anything increased or remained flat, and that is an indication of cooling, or at a minimum no meaningful increase in T. In the far polar regions where it so cold it can snow anytime moisture is available, you are correct that T is not the controlling factor in snow fall, but as one moves toward the equator, both elevation and latitude become critical, and the no snow predictions are, like all the other CAGW predictions, completely failing to materialize.
Tony, you also stated,
"Think the "snowmageddons" of recent years – the one over Washington DC had it's vast quantity of snow driven by air drawn up from the Gulf area."
Sorry Tony, but that was the result of very cold air taking no more then average moisture for such an event and precipitating it for all its worth. Therefore the moisture content in the snow was extremely low Great for skiing though. You also claimed T primarily drives sea ice. Not so. In fact Summer arctic air T have been fairly low (average or below) for several years now. However ocean and wind currents have been favorable to removing sea ice rapidly. .
Michael Spurrier
http://realclimatescience.com/2016/04/nsidc-caught-cheating-yet-again/
David A,
I really liked their maps, but suddenly the NSIDC "disappeared" nearly half the five-year-old ice and a third of the four-year-old ice. There was a large bulge of red extending north from the Canadian Archipelago toward the Pole. They switched to newer maps, and that red, five-year-old ice vanished over-night.
When they do this sort of "adjustment" they really should explain their reasoning, but they haven't.
Maybe they though no one would notice or care. They may offer an explanation if enough people reblog Goddard's expose.
https://sunriseswansong.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/nsidc-busted/
Kasia Turajczyk (@kasiaturajczyk)
@caleb 'When they do this sort of "adjustment" they really should explain their reasoning, but they haven't.' – they did explain their reasoning, I have been just reading about it; And it is not an adjustment it is a new version.
Well, not quite. It means at least 15% ice. Anything more also qualifies.
The wind did not blow nearly as much ice out of the central Arctic this year as it did in 2012. This shows clearly in the PIOMAS data. Since that data doesn't predict a large loss of ice it is now ignored by the fear mongers.
As usual the actual minimum will be determined by winds in the next few months. I've seen nothing yet to make me think they are going to blow a lot of ice out into the Fram Straight. If a low minimum does not occur these folks will never admit they got it wrong.
Smart Rock
Predicting the summer extent of the arctic sea ice several months in advance is one of the great challenges facing contemporary polar research.
Why don't they just wait till summer and measure it then? If prediction is that difficult, because the parameter you're trying to predict is dependent on so many other variables, non of which you can predict with any confidence, then don't bother to predict. That would be my advice.
Javert Chip
Reply to Smart Rock
You have hit the CAGW nail on the head: If "climate change" is so hard to predict, why don't we just wait a while & see what happens?
Of course, the guy who get research funding from all the scare tactics would raise hell, as would England's Prince Charles, who (quite a while ago) calculated the earth only had six weeks before runaway destruction.
Reply to Javert Chip
"If "climate change" is so hard to predict, why don't we just wait a while & see what happens?"
Because AGW has adverse impacts, and the severity of the impacts the longer we delay taking action.
Because AGW has adverse impacts
it also has hugely positive impacts. it all depends on where you are and what preparations you make.
because we can be very sure, that the long term climate impact without AGW is that we return to ice age conditions, with miles of ice covering most of the major cities of the world, and the likely collapse of human civilization around the world.
Global birthrate per capita has been falling since 1965. Nobody is near as concerned as they are about 0.7C rise in global temperature after 40 years of hyper solar activity.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-afkuoTJyd4g/TyYs6TjVykI/AAAAAAAAIco/0U-erGqbkYY/s1600/archibald_1749_2049_projected_solar_cycle.png
The claim that AGW has severe impacts has been refuted by examination of the real world.
Wasn't the Grat Artic Cyclone responsible for record low in 2012?
https://sunshinehours.net/2016/04/21/record-sea-ice-low-predicted-short-memories/
… Great Arctic …
goldminor
Extra short memories in some cases. Remember all of the wild claims following the 2012 low point? The end of sea ice was nigh, and so on. I think that the current oceanic changes will squash this forecast made by these AWI scientists. Watch for this years step change which generally occurs around mid summer. It may arrive in June this time.
This years contest to guess the sea ice minimum should be interesting. Let's see how well their forecast holds up come September.
TomRude
Once again it is assuming a lower winter maximum will translate into a lower minimum in summer. History has shown this is not necessarily the case… But fear mongering now is good publicity.
Latest anomaly forecast. Given last 2 year, not much faith in it
http://origin.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/people/wwang/cfsv2fcst/imagesInd3/sieMon.gif
Reply to Joe Bastardi
I wonder if it's like their forecast of an extended El Nino; to be amended shortly…
"… During the past winter, the growth of the arctic sea ice was significantly slower than the scientists had expected." !!!!!
Why do they have to add so much BS to their forecast? Whenever did these scientists expect the Arctic sea ice to be increasing at all! It's time for Diogenes and his lantern to reincarnate and go on the prowl looking for an honest climate researcher among all these vaunted institutes.
I have predicted a bounce to higher Antarctic extent on other threads. The graph of extent shows the growth in a series of 5 year bounces and it has just hit the end of another cycle with this years minimum:
Richard Barraclough
This is a graph showing Antarctic sea ice ending in mid-2015, shortly before the anomaly dropped by well over 1 million sq. km.
It is at 0.380 today.
Reply to Richard Barraclough
You are wrong! This is from WUWT sea ice page and is current as of ~April 07, 2016.
Frederik Michiels
richard little note: for gary's comment to make sense yoiu have to click on the image. to see what he means and then the full graph is visible. this years minimum of the 5 year bounces was reached and now it's slowly going up to above average as the el nino weakens.
i hope i understood it right as the image does not show the updated version which is a bit confusing. the reason why it doesn't is a mystery as clicking on it gives the "source image" which is complete not sure why it does that as normally the linked image should update automatically. while here it doesn't
the growth of the arctic sea ice was significantly slower than the scientists had expected
considering the number of scientists that predicted that the sea ice would be gone by now, it seems more accurate to say that even the slightest growth in sea ice is substantially greater than scientists had expected.
Whenever did these scientists expect the Arctic sea ice to be increasing at all!"
Probably because it increases every winter.
Reply to seaice1
It wasn't but a few years ago that the death spiral was to have cleared the ice out of the arctic. A decade before that, snow was even going to be a thing of the past in the UK (Dr. Viner). Hansen expected the highway along the Hudson to be underwater by 2000. That was even an improvement over Ehrlich and Holders billions dying of starvation by that year. What is your prediction for sea ice by the way?
If the scientists mis-forecasted the arctic ice growth, then their models were wrong. 8<}
We'll likely approach the 2007 summer Arctic Ice Extent low this year, but I don't expect it to break the 2012 record minimum, which was caused by a 1-in-50 year summer Arctic cyclone; not CO2…
A La Nina cycle should be in effect from the end of this year, and the North Pacific "The Blob" has long gone to blob heaven… Accordingly, this winter's Arctic Ice Extent recovery should be quite spectacular; similar to what happened in the winter of 2012/13.
We'll see soon enough…
Reply to SAMURAI
I'll be watching to see if the high pressure dome sets up in the North Atlantic, too.
601nan
Without a real verifiable measurement, the prognostications are circumspect as fraud. And fraud they will be.
Reply to 601nan
Yep – coz it's "turtles all the way down" isn't it?
Always works. Anything you don't like in this world is a fraud.
But especially when anything pertains to AGW
And we'll stick our heads back in the sand and worship the dollar and our "freedoms".
worship the dollar and our "freedoms"
aaah, the real political agenda has raised its head. It's nothing to do with temps, it's all about the hard left.
Ever notice how much the left hates other people's freedoms.
They will come up with any lie to separate other people from their money and their freedom.
Fraud is as fraud does.
Obama's favorit SunEdison is now in lovely bankruptcy as our dearly departed Obama.
http://www.reuters.com/article/sunedison-inc-bankruptcy-idUSL2N17O0QE
asybot
My simple ( I think) question is this, what is anybody going to do about it? Stop everything that produces power?
…" the Arctic Ocean this summer may shrink to the record low of 2012 " ..
Wait, does that mean they are admitting that the ice has been GROWING since 2012 ?
Reply to Marcus
some death spiral eh?
Gareth Phillips
Not quite. The longer term, over say the last 25 years is still down, though the decrease is sometimes slower, sometimes faster. You can look at it month by month, year by year, or decade by decade and vary your observations. But there is no getting away from the fact that the Arctic ice cap in our times is steadily shrinking.
Reply to Gareth Phillips
"the Arctic ice cap in our times is steadily shrinking"
Actually, no, not steadily at all. Some years up, some years down, and for the last 37 years or so it has been cumulatively down. On the other hand, the Antarctic has been overall up. But nothing unusual as far as I can tell. Certainly nothing catastrophic (except for the predictions, which seem to be particularly unreliable.) There have been times in the recent past where the caps have gone up. And down. And up again. They have never been steadily anything.
25 years? That would be right about the time the PDO shifted from it's last cold cycle to the current warm cycle.
And there is no getting away from the fact that the cherry picked 1979 starting point was a high point in Arctic ice extents with the satellite era ice measurement record actually beginning in 1973 at which time the arctic ice extent was considerably less than that of 1979. If you don;t believe me, you can consult the 1990 IPCC report. But we wouldn't want anybody to get the heretical idea that Arctic ice coverage might be naturally cyclical, would we.
.." On 04/05/2016 a change in the solar panel position to shade the nitrogen tank on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 satellite was made."..
………So, it's that easy to "adjust" the raw satellite data ?
ralfellis
Since we are still just passing the peak of the PDO, and are at the peak of the AMO, is anyone surprised? So the more important question, is what will happen in ten years time, when we are on the downside of both the PDO and AMO.
Seriously, what are the implications of this for Arctic sea ice??
Reply to ralfellis
A cycle that may begin sooner then many think.
Could have implication for some interesting weather in Europe this summer. Just don't pour with rain on Glastonbury!
I love Arctic stories , i get to link to my favourite map-
http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AugustIceVs1971NationalGeographic.gif
Reply to englandrichard
Do you have any idea how incorrect and misleading this Goddard animation is?
If got a reaction from you it's worth its weight in gold!
A BLANK STATEMENT WITH NO SPECIFICS
NevenA. The two maps are clearly very different and a simple overlay is probably not a valid comparison. Can you explain what each map is actually showing?
Seaice1, I will at one point explain in detail exactly why that comparison is wrong and misleading on my blog or somewhere else, but here's a summary:
The National Geographic map has very little information (except for geographical locations). It doesn't say whether the ice it's showing is a monthly average (which month?), or a yearly average, or a daily image, or whatever. No info whatsoever, but Goddard still compares it to August 2015 as if they are apple-to-apple.
I've managed to find it somewhere where you can really zoom in. It says along the edge of the ice pack: Limit of multi-year ice. The image that Goddard compares it to, is of sea ice concentration in August 2015. That shows first-year ice too, not just multi-year ice.
If you would compare the edge of multi-year ice in 2015 with the purported edge of multi-year ice in 1971 you'd get a completely different picture. A picture Goddard would never, ever show, because it would show that MYI in 2015 is much, much smaller than on the NatGeo map. This in itself is enough evidence that the image is wrong and misleading. But one could go further.
You see, I highly doubt that the makers of that NatGeo map knew where the edge of the ice pack was at that time. They had no Internet back then, and the satellite images they had of the Arctic weren't produced on a daily basis, accessible to anyone at any time. So I think it's an artist's impression, as the map isn't about Arctic sea ice at all, but rather about geographical locations in the Arctic with historical info.
But let's just say it's not an artist's impression. Let's assume it's real and it's not the 'limit of multi-year ice', but the limit of the entire ice pack. This can easily be disproven by comparing it to what the ice pack most probably looked like in September 1971 (see here). There's clearly more ice visible than on the NatGeo map, at the time of year when the ice pack is smallest. If the NatGeo map had more ice, you could say: Oh, that was April 1971, a NatGeo map for September 1971 would show less ice, probably as much as the historical record.
But the NatGeo map shows less ice than there was at any time of the year in 1971, with the Northern Sea Route wide open, and the Northwest Passage almost open. We know this wasn't the case back then.
So, there you go. That's it in a nutshell.
Yes the NG-71 map is certainly a 'blank statement' when it comes to seance, there's no information on it!
So Nevin,
What was the Arctic ice minimum extent in 1971? We know what it was in 1973 and that it was considerably less than it was in 1979, the "official" beginning of Arctic ice recording. I guess NG in 1971 had no inkling that their depiction (right or wrong) of Arctic ice would cause such consternation in 2016.
its worse than we thought. CO2 is changing the color of the ice.
Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
Reply to ferdberple
That's because it is the "wrong kind" of ice.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seasonal.extent.1900-2010.png
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/
susanjcrockford
For polar bears, the low extent in 2007 was potentially more devastating than 2012.
Yet, the low ice had little impact on all the polar bear populations predicted to be extirpated by 2050:
http://polarbearscience.com/2015/08/09/summer-polar-bear-habitat-then-now-little-impact-from-2007-record-breaking-sea-ice-low/
As I've shown before [http://polarbearscience.com/2015/04/21/polar-bears-barely-survived-the-sea-ice-habitat-changes-of-the-last-ice-age-evidence-suggests/ ] polar bears barely survived the Last Ice Age – but did, and went on to survive the low summer ice conditions of the early Holocene. So did all the Arctic seals.
Resilient creatures, those Arctic mammals.
Dr. Susan Crockford, zoologist
Reply to susanjcrockford
PS. See Pat Michael's excellent post on the survival of polar bears through previous warm periods:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-j-michaels/polar-bears-earth-day_b_9752044.html
He only got one thing wrong – polar bears are a distinct and separate species. A bit of hybridization does not negate that.
http://polarbearscience.com/2012/12/06/more-evidence-that-the-polar-bear-is-a-distinct-species/
Ron Clutz
Reports of Arctic ice demise are greatly exaggerated.
https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/premature-reports-of-ice-death/
I went to the Huffington Post article and saw a half dozen comments empty of any critique – essentially alll non sequiturs about the Kock Brothers. I tried to leave a comment but, like many blogs these days, you have to have a social media account to participate – my email and name aren't sufficient. I had hoped to provoke some thinking if that is possible with that readership:
Bravo to the Huffpost for bravely putting some thought provoking science in front of readers who expect to be spoonfed the the K-12 and undergraduate diet these days. I note the complete lack of any critique of the actual arguments – instead, we get the typical designer-brained information-free comments of an intellectually lost generation. Look, it won't hurt you folks to see stuff and hear stuff that's different than what you are comfortable with (if you are laymen, ask yourselves how you came to believe your position in the first place). Indeed, it is a benefit to be exposed to 'controversial' stuff. A hundred years from now, we will believe entirely different things, much as we did a hundred years ago and before.
I'm a geologist and took paleoclimatology, an essential course of study for all geologists to be able to interpret the rocks of this planet (and even other planets). Even if we are creating a problem with today's climate, despite indisputable long periods of much warmer previous climates and CO2 contents in the atmosphere of up to 9,000 ppmv that created huge forests that became the trillions of tons of coal on earth, this story of paleo polar bears is in fact not a threat to the global warming thesis. Moreover, it is not only possible, but it is certain that some aspects of warming and higher CO2 are beneficial. The planet is greening and you're all aware that operators pump CO2 into into their greenhouses with unmistakable good results. Crops of basically doubled in output, in some measure from higher CO2…
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=1804
Go ahead, don't fear to check it out and come to your own conclusions. Much of this stuff isn't that hard. All that will happen to you is you will become more well rounded and be able to speak from new knowledge (instead of no apparent knowledge). What doesn't make sense to you about this article? What you are doing in your comments is displaying real D*Nile by not wanting to countenance the obvious.
oops, Koch Brothers
..It was funnier the other way ! LOL
Lower longitudes are going to melt bad this summer / fall, higher longitudes, not so much. You can already see that pattern in the thicknesses.
Reply to James at 48
BTW, there may be general open water at the pole as a result. But head down the Date Line from the pole and you will hit ice quick, even in Sept.
The Skate, March 17 1959, surfacing at the North Pole.
I seriously doubt that, since the sun wouldn't have risen at the N Pole then! Also when the Skate surfaced at that time it was not only dark but was in a blizzard!
The actual photo from that date shows it in darkness(illuminated by a flare):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2482/3550264453_155246aaac_o.jpg
Phil: March 17 that year was 4 days before Equinox, and the sun was sitting just below the horizon all 'day', bright twilight, quite like what it looks like over the ocean 12 to 8 minutes before sunrise.
It was not dark commemoration (your posted pic) was taken. The 3 people on the aft deck are visible silhouetted against the much brighter sky.
Steve Fraser April 24, 2016 at 6:15 am
Yes they are, which is why it is clear that that photo was not taken on April the 17th at the N Pole. The Captain of the Skate reported that it was dark, snowing and that they were surrounded by large hummocks of ice.
"Skate was in a small lead completely surrounded by 10-foot hummocks of ice….It was almost dark, the sky was heavily overcast, and the 25-knot wind was blowing the snow so heavily that visibility was cut down to 500 yards…….
First the U.S., British and Australian flags were attached to the radar masts and periscopes…….
For illumination two sailors were holding railroad flares whose red light cast an eerie glow over the ice……"
Perhaps, latitudes? Low longitudes are the ones to the immediate east and west of England, and go all the way to the equator…
See - owe to Rich
So, the NSIDC is forecasting a low 2016 Arctic sea ice minimum on the basis of El Nino and a low 2016 maximum. For the latter, someone should do a proper correlation study (perhaps I will one day), but the graphs suggest a very poor correlation. For the former, the El Nino, I shall restate something I first noted in 2008 or 2009. It is that I believe there is a lag of about two years between El Nino and Arctic minimum ice.
So I predict a low minimum in 2018. I may well be proved wrong of course, but I am not the least bit worried about Arctic ice's effect on the world (until it grows alarmingly), so I shall consider it entertainment to watch my prediction live or die.
Reply to See - owe to Rich
I would estimate about a 50% chance of a new record this year.
'Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute'
Plural ?!?! Why would you need more than one?
Catcracking
I don't claim any expertise, but this temperature in the Arctic is telling us something which could explain the warmer winter in the Arctic but now flat temperatures for a long time bringing the temperature back to normal.
Is this saying future melting this season will be "normal"?
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php


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text:
Singer-Songwriter Ne-Yo & Wife Partner with Love & Hip Hop's Karlie Redd to Open Atlanta Restaurant
Word on the curb is that a trio of Atlanta area celebrities are set to open a restaurant in College Park next month.
Ne-Yo and his wife Crystal Smith join reality TV star Karlie Redd (Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta) for 'Johnny's Chicken and Waffles' billed as an all day (and night) breakfast cafe.
Atlanta is apparently in for a treat as a few superstars join together with a brand new chicken & waffles restaurant slated to open soon in College Park.
According to Atlanta Eater:
The all-day (and night) breakfast menu for "Johnny's Chicken and Waffles" reportedly features customizable chicken and waffles, biscuits, French toast, and omelette combinations. Sandwiches, such as the Triple Decker grilled cheese and a Wafflewhich, along with other dishes, like miso-glazed lamb chops, barbecue teriyaki salmon, and hot skillet peach or apple cobbler, are also available. Champagne and cocktails from the bar come served in carafes for sharing or in individual mason jars.
The 85-seat restaurant includes a mix of booths, tables, high-top tables, and seating at the bar. A takeout counter inside the restaurant also sells fresh-baked pies and other "cafe goods," according to the press release.
The music-themed design for Johnny's Chicken and Waffles features a mural of Harlem's historic Apollo Theater, along with 14 platinum albums lining the walls from Atlanta musicians OutKast, Ludacris, Usher, and Ne-Yo.
For the record, a restaurant representative confirms that safety will be a priority during the pandemic, as patrons of Johnny's Chicken and Waffles will be required to wear masks when not seated at a table or the bar.
Johnny's Chicken & Waffles' management team is closely following operational guidelines and cleaning protocol from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as well as local, state and federal officials.
Congrats to Ne-yo, Crystal and Karlie on their latest venture.
RECAP: Love & Hip Hop Atlanta S4, Ep15 'Doing Me' + Aftershow ft. Yung Joc, Scrappy & Lil Fizz… [VIDEO]
2 Chainz 'Cleans Out' Management Staff at Dirty Atlanta Restaurant…
RECAP: 5 Things Revealed on #LHHATL Season 5, Ep13 "Funny Business' + WATCH FULL VIDEO…
In Case You Missed It: Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (Season 4, Ep 3) + #LHHATL 'The After Party' (WATCH VIDEOS)
In Case You Missed It: Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, S4, Episode 4 + The Afterparty ft. Yung Joc & Mama Dee… [FULL VIDEO]
In Atlanta Gossip,Featured,News Atlanta Restaurants, Karlie Redd, LHHATL, Ne-yo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
is creating Writings
About Stockholm Center for Freedom
Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) is an advocacy organization that promotes the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights and freedoms with a special focus on Turkey, a country with eighty million citizens that is experiencing a dramatic decline in its parliamentary democracy under its autocratic leadership.
The mission of the Stockholm Centre for Freedom is to:
Document violations of the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression, including but not limited to keeping track of journalists who are detained, arrested, jailed, prosecuted, and convicted on trumped up charges fabricated by the authorities.
Monitor the transformation of the media landscape in Turkey, track changes in media outlets, investigate ownership structures, identify propaganda machines run by the government, and expose the army of internet trolls that is clandestinely funded by the government to smear critics and opponents.
Document cases of violations of the right to free enterprise, wrongful seizures of assets, and unlawful takeover of companies, and identify cases of arbitrary prosecution and jailing of businesspeople who are not aligned with the governing party's ideology.
Monitor mass purges that have been undertaken by the government to create a partisan bureaucracy or nomenklatura in the civil service that is flourishing on corruption, nepotism, and lack of transparency and accountability in governance.
Scrutinize the judiciary, monitor the regress in the rule of law, question impunity in government officials, and track cases of mass purges and/or arrests of judges and prosecutors who have rendered judgments not to the liking of the government.
Review Turkey's performance on the fulfillment of the commitments it has made to regional and international rights organizations to which Turkey has acceded by ratifying conventions and treaties.
Document cases of torture and ill treatment by authorities in detention centers, prisons, or other holding areas designated for suspects and inmates. Investigate suspicious deaths in police custody or in jails and review whether an effective enquiry is carried out to find out what happened in each case.
Follow cases in which relatives and family members of those detained and arrested are subjected to ill treatment, torture, and harassment.
Survey hate speech and hate crime cases, especially those committed by senior officials, against vulnerable groups including but not limited to foreign nationals, non-Muslims, Alevis, Kurds, Roma people and members of the Hizmet Movement.
Document cases of violence against women, underage marriages, and sexual abuse of minors, and assess the progress on women's empowerment, gender equality, and women's participation in the labor force, and review legislative and judicial procedures to identify shortcomings in the system that hinder addressing problems.
Monitor extremism and radical movements, especially those based on religious militancy in the predominantly Sunni nation of Turkey. Track hate-mongering clerics and enablers and facilitators of radical Islamist ideologies in Turkish society.
Keep track of the Turkish government's clandestine operations abroad, decode the parallel networks set up with slush funds to export the ongoing witch hunt in Turkey to overseas, uncover illegal profiling and harassment of critics and dissidents among expatriate communities, and reveal unlawful intelligence operations that violate the rights of Turkish citizens abroad.
Survey environmental problems, monitor urbanization projects, and review major infrastructure projects and government contracts to make sure they proceed with the utmost respect for environmental concerns.
http://stockholmcf.org/
Recent posts by Stockholm Center for Freedom


There is a major cyberattack currently unfolding in about 74 countries. Thousands of hospitals, mainly based in the UK have been hit by this attack, which is called a ransomware attack by the Russian cybersecurity agency, Kaspersky. The attack reportedly shuts down its targets and then asks for $300 worth of ransomware. Apart from UK hospitals, the attack has also hit Spain's largest telecom company, Telefonica, and Portugal Telecom. Some universities in Italy are also reported to be crippled by the ransomware attack, which is currently unfolding in Czech Republic, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Ukraine and many other countries. Czech Republic-based cybersecurity firm Avast has so far recorded over 50,000 attacks globally since Friday afternoon.
Spain's Gas Natural, and the electrical company Iberdrola have also been hit in this attack.
This is perhaps the biggest ransomware attack recorded in history. Cyber security experts had been cautioning the governments around the world to beware and ready for such hacks.
City services in London, Nottingham, and the counties of Hertfordshire and Cumbria are affected by the latest ransomware attack, the source of which is still unknown.
Experts are calling the latest cyberattack "WannaCry", or WanaCrypt0r and WCry. This malware infection spreads quickly because it stems from a Windows vulnerability known as EternalBlue that allegedly originated with the NSA. In March, Microsoft released an exploit to patch this exploit, known as MS17-010. But it appears hackers were quicker that the sloppy governments around the world.
Adam Kujawa, director of malware intelligence at Malwarebytes says that he hasn't seen anything like this. "The spread is immense. This is nuts," says Kujawa.


text:
Home Gaming News Best Games Of 2018: God Of War
Best Games Of 2018: God Of War
Over the next few days, we will reveal what we believe are the 10 best games of 2018, organized by release date. Then on December 19, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot's Game of the Year. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2018 hub.
The new God of War from Santa Monica Studio is a masterful reinvention of a now-classic PlayStation series and, primarily, its lead character. Kratos went from being a killing machine driven solely by rage in previous games, to, well, a killing machine driven by paternal instinct and a promise made to his deceased wife. But even without being compared to his former self, Kratos' newfound sensitivity and self-awareness are as effective as they are because of how well the character and his journey are executed in general. For fans, it's great to witness the character's pivot from yesteryear's action darling to today's loving father figure in disguise, but Kratos and the game he leads are simply excellent on their own terms.
Many of the new systems, narrative beats, and surprises at hand feed off of the partnership between the mighty Kratos and his scrappy son, Atreus. The boy's bow and arrow play an important role in combat, because without his chain whips in hand, Kratos is left to engage enemies up close with his Leviathan Axe, or rely on his throwing skills to strike enemies from a distance. The latter may require a bit more work on your part, but there's also nothing else in games quite like Kratos calling the axe back to his hand, a la Thor, culminating in an abrupt and meaty thwack upon arrival. Thanks to well-thought-out controls, managing both Kratos' brute force and Atreus' elementally charged bow and arrow shots is far easier than you might imagine despite also adding new layers of strategy to combat.
Kratos and Atreus have to cover a lot of ground on foot in God of War. Where most games fail to treat moment-to-moment travel as anything other than an afterthought, God of War injects would-be downtime with a bit of wisdom and education from Mimir, the sage-like disembodied head attached to Kratos' waist who not-so humbly refers to himself as the smartest man alive. By his own account, he knows every corner of the world, every point in history worth remembering, and every language spoken. Tall claims, but given how he consistently offers up new bits of backstory and esoteric knowledge as you truck from point A to point B, it settles in that he might be right. More than a font of knowledge, he's also voiced remarkably well by Alastair Duncan, better known for his work as Celebrimbor in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor.
These three characters form a trio that makes your adventure more than just a series of battles. Though Mimir's personality hardly deviates beyond that of an entertaining fanny pack (which, don't get us wrong, we love), Kratos and Atreus undergo massive changes. For Atreus, the loss of his mother and the gruff attitude of his father set him up to follow in Kratos' footsteps, which as we know from previous games could ultimately lead to unexpected and negative results. Kratos, on the other hand, must simultaneously control his own urges while trying to counteract his son's budding aggression. The result is some powerful moments between a father and son who couldn't seem more different at first, but at heart are practically one in the same despite being at different stages in their lives.
God Of War Video Review
Regardless of what we all expected from Sony's muscle-bound badass, God of War is simply a great video game driven by a bold directorial vision and top-tier execution from a team that clearly knows how to knock it out of the park.
God of War's strong lead characters and their many brushes with death are held aloft by a world jam packed with beauty and detail. Wild, connected environments flow into one another with nary an awkward transition to be found. Through the use of a dimension hopping portal, you can also transport Kratos and son to haunting and dangerous locations that pack some of the game's biggest challenges. And the most impressive achievement therein is the game's single-shot, uncut nature. You may enter tiny waiting-room realms to travel between dimensions, but your view is never once interrupted by camera cuts or loading screens. This isn't a small game, and this feat is all the more impressive when God of War's world fully comes into view.
Again, it's tough not to wrap all the things that make God of War great around the idea that it's a shockingly good revival. It certainly is that, and Santa Monica Studio deserves credit for proving that God of War can be so much more than a spectacular action game. But regardless of what we all expected from Sony's muscle-bound badass, God of War is simply a great video game driven by a bold directorial vision and top-tier execution from a team that clearly knows how to knock it out of the park.
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Whenever new technoloy is introduced, people feel threatened. But with time, this new technology not only makes life easy and more enriched, it opens up new employment opportunities.
Take movies for example. Initial movies were silent movies. They required technicians as well as actors.
Movies began to speak from 1927, and in India talkies began in 1931. It suddenly opened up new opportunities. Actors who were ony needed to show their face till then, were now required to speak, and sing as well. Suddenly many good looking actors with poor voices found themselves unemploed.
Movies began to speak, which meant they could speak in various languages and so different language movie industries came up. Language related artists, namely dialogue writers, and lyricists became essential for these movies. Since need of songs was felt so music directors and singers were needed.
As one can see, the "simple" advancement in technology opened up new opportunities and that changed the face of movies. Personnel skilled in languages suddenyly found themselves in demand.
Since Hindi movies came into existence in early 1930s, it followed that most artists of talkies were born in and around early 1900s. So, these early pioneers of Hindi movies were born some one hundred years ago. Many of such early pioneers have already completed their birth centenaries.
This blog began on 19 july 2008. Some Hindi movie stalwards who have completed their centuries after than date are Leela Chitnis, K N Singh, K Amarnath, Gope, Kidar Sharma, Jagmohan Sursagar, Gopal Singh Nepali, Khursheed Bano, Bhagwan Dada, Jaan Nisaar Akhtar, Anil Biswas, Lalita Pawar, G P Sippy, Zohrabai Ambalewali, S D Batish, Kishore Sahu, Hansraj Bahl, Bharat Vyas, Shakeel Badayuni, Chitragupta, Kamal Amrohi, Qamar Jalalabadi, Roshan, C Ramchandra etc.
Lots of artists will have their centenaries in the coming years.
The year 2019 has just begun. Birth centenaries of several artists will fall this year.
Today is 14 january 2019. It is the birth centenary of Kaifi Azmi (14 january 1919- 10 may 2002), who was born on this day exactly one hundred years ago. He was born in Azamgarh in Eastern UP which happens to be about 180 km away from the place where I am based at present.
Coming to Kaifi Azmi, he was born as Sayyad Akhtar Hussain Rizvi. Like many other persons of literature, he was influenced by communism and Marxism and his literature reflected that. He became a CPI member in 1943 and a member of Progressive Writers movement in 1945.
He was one of the first shaayars to join Hindi movies as a lyricist. His first movie as a lyricist was "Buzdil"(1951) where S D Burman was the music director. He penned three songs in the movie. All these three songs are already covered in the blog.
According to my calculation, Kaifi Azmi penned some 360 songs in 93 movies. His last movie was "Ek Alag Mausam"(2003) whose songs were released after he had already left for the heavenly abode.
Here is the filmography of Kaifi Azmi.
As can be seen from the filmography, Kaifi azmi has penned many memorable songs that need no introduction. For instance, who can forget the songs of "Kaaghaz Ke Phool"(1959), "Haqeeqat"(1964), or the songs of "Kohra"(1964) and "Anupama"(1966). In "Heer Ranjha"(1970), he not only penned the lyrics but also the dialogues, the dialogues being entirely in verse ! One can look at his filmography and recall the songs from those movies.
On the occasion of his birth centenary, here is a song from "Bahu Beti"(1952). This movie was directed by C L Dheer for Badoda Theatre Limited Bombay. This "social" movie had Geeta Bali, Amarnath, Jaswant, Vijaylaxmi, Rashid, Leela Mishra, S Nazeer, Nazirabai etc in it.
This movie had seven songs in it. Six songs were penned by Kaifi azmi and one by Vishwamita Adil. One song from the movie has been covered in the past.
The first song from the movie was deleted from the movie because of objections of censors. Those were the days when censors could often by quite sensitive towards matters that are taken in their stride today. The lyrics of the song were considered objectionable by the censors. Just imagine, a song penned by Kaifi Azmi was deleted from the movie because its lyrics were found objectionable !
The song luckily continued to remain in the records.
Just as fortuitously, this song happens to be 200th song of Kaifi Azmi appearing in the blog.
Here is this special song from Kaifi Azmi, on the occasion of his birth centenary. This song is sung by Geeta Dutt. Music is composed by S D Batish. Since the video of the song is not available, one can only gess about the picturisation. Seeing that Geeta Dutt's voice appears in six out of seven songs, one can assume that she had sung for Geeta Bali, the lead actress of the movie. By that assumption, it would seem that this song was picturised on Geeta Bali. Nevertheless, I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of this song.
This article is written by nahm, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
And thus he sang in 1949, with no conception that his voice and words are going to resonate around the globe into the 21st century or the next millennia. If he had known how famous and well known one day he was destined to be, I wonder how much more conscious and eager to reach the heights a performer of his class would have been. Or if he could have excelled himself in what way. As it is, he was in a class of his own. The thing about this whole saga called Mohammed Rafi 's songs, is that there is/was simply no competition.
Here was me, literally stumbling in front of the street where he lived the last part of his life. It happened this saturday, I was visiting a fashion house on Turner Road, Bandra(W), and right there on the intersection there was this blue coloured sign board indicating the direction of Mohammed Rafi Marg.
Normally western suburbs are not my choice of places to visit. Having lived all my life in Mumbai, I have also had my fair share of queries like " Have you seen Shah Rukh Khan's house ?" or some such things mainly from those who have never visited Mumbai. Long ago some Bollywood savvy driver had driven us around the Bandra area showing us the Bunglows and houses of Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari etc. with some visiting relatives while we all were on a sight seeing trip.
This time I was with my sister, mother and cousins doing some sort of research in current trends and fashions. Others call this same activity as window shopping 🙂 . I was gobsmacked to unexpectedly find that I can see Rafi Mansion. I told the elderly chacha from who driving the car, who is actually a Kishore and Rajesh Khanna fan, to just go and see if he can find Rafi Sahab's home in the street, by the time we could finish the job in hand. Afterwards I asked chacha if he found the house. He replied that he couldnt find it. Having seen the road sign I was not about to give up. I said "Chalo dekhte hain kasie nahin milta" .
I knew this has to be a small street and Rafi Mansion shouldnt be so difficult to find. And Lo and Behold, there it was the gate marked "Rafi Mansion" on one side and "Bait-ur-Rafi" on the other side. The whole area, I realised must have changed over the decades. Of course the house that Rafi Sahab lived is no longer there and in its place is a building containing flats. A passerby told us, that Rafi Sahab's daughter stays in the building but currently she is abroad.
Fortunately, I wasnt too overwhelmed and remembered that I can take photos of the place as a memory of the moment. I did take the photos of the gate and the Memorial Plaque marking the street "Padmashree Mohammed Rafi Marg".
I have photographs to prove it, that I did visit the place and not making this story up just to write something in this post 🙂 🙂 . Photos are attached to accompany the post. Someone sure is taking care of both the plaque's (On both corners of the road) and the gate with its silver paint and glaze.
As we came away from there, we all were discussing inane things. I could'nt even ponder over what all info I have imbibed in all these years about Rafi Sahab's house. I only realised today that, this was a momentous occassion and could be recorded here on this blog honouring the great nourishing and enriching value addition i.e. Rafi Sahab's legacy, is to Hindi film music.
The moment here is the 38th death anniversary, to be commemorated. A beautiful solo song that I found on youtube some months ago, with two versions, is worthy of the event. Its so touchingly rendered in the typical Rafi tones of the 40's, that I longed to do this post. When I saw a post of a song from Shohrat (1949) a while back, I thought this song also will be posted soon. But than luckily it has been left alone, may be due to the fact that it deos not appear in the Geet Kosh.
Whether this song was recorded for the film "Shohrat"(1949) or otherwise, the fact remains that this is a authentic Rafi rendition. Both the versions have the word"Tanvir" featuring in a sher, as a poets takhallus maybe. As per the information given with the link on youtube, it is from Shohrat(1949) composed by Aziz Hindi. The poet, as per the uploader is Tanvir Naqvi.
On our blog we have a 'category' of 'songs excluded from movie', and so far, seventy-nine songs have been posted/included in this category of songs. Today I present a song from the movie 'Kaalaa Pathhar' (1979), which belongs to this category.
I vaguely remember to have watched this movie in theatre when I must be 11/12 years old. Thereafter just six-seven years back I got its DVD from an online store to enjoy the movie again and revive the nostalgia. But, I was aware of the today's song many years before, or exactly since 1991 when I got recorded this movie's songs from the LP record, for my choice compilation of 'Daag-Deewaar-Kaalaa Pathhar' songs in a 90 min cassette.
'Kaalaa Patthar' was directed by Yash Chopra for his home productions Yashraj Films, Bombay. This movie was passed by Censor Board on 09.08.1979.
Its cast holds a 'galaxy of stars' which includes Shashi Kapoor, Rakhi Gulzar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi, Prem Chopra, Parikshit Sahni, Romesh Sharma and Poonam Dhillon (in special appearance), Manmohan Krishna, Madan Puri, Iftekhar, Satyen Kappu, Yunus Parvez, Geeta Siddharth, Gautam Sarin, Sharat Saxena, Mac Mohan, Sudesh Mahaan, Sudhir Dalvi, Sudha Chopra, Harish, Mohan Sheri, Vikas Anand, Jagdish Raj, Suresh Oberoi, Prem Sagar, Pardesi, Nazeer Kashmiri, Ashok Razdan and many others.
This movie has six songs, penned by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by Rajesh Roshan. Interesting to note that the background music for this movie is by Salil Chaudhary. Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Mahendra Kapoor, Mohd Rafi, Pamela Chopra, S.K. Mahan, and Usha Mangeshkar have given their voices to the songs in this movie.
Today's song is written by Sahir Ludhianvi and thus this is the third song of Sahir Ludhianvi which I am able to share here under the category of 'songs excluded from movie', the earlier two being, Kya Tum Wahi Ho – from 'Mann Ki Aankhen' (1970) and Ja Ri Behna Jaa Tu Apne Ghar Ja from 'Trishul' (1978).
The other Sahir songs which were excluded from movies, and which have been posted on the blog so far are also listed here – Rut Phire Par Din Hamaare – from 'Pyaasa' (1957), Yoon Hi Dil Ne Chaaha Tha Rona Rulaanaa – from 'Dil Hi To Hai' (1963) and Saajan Bin Neend Naa Aawe – from 'Munimji' (1955).
HFGK Vol- V doesn't mention anything about 'exclusion' of this song from the movie. I would request knowledgeable readers to share information if any they have about this song please.
Mujhe pyaar ka tohfa de ke. . .
"Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye"(1963) was directed by K Parwez for Young Technicians Unit-Baria Films, Bombay. The movie had Shakila, Mehmood, Om Prakash, Johny Walker, Sheila Kashmiri, Poornima, Shammi, Anwar Hussain, Amar, Altaf, Dilip Dutt, Brahm, Jeewan Kala, Madhumati, Kallan, Babu Raje etc in it.
The movie had six songs in it. Four songs from the movie have been covered in the past.
Here is the fifth song from "Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye"(1963) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Rafi. Anand Bakshi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Kalyanji Anandji.
Only the audio of this song seems to be is available. I watched the full movie available online but I was unable to locate the song in that. So it could mean that either this song was excluded from the movie, or the song has been removed from the print available online. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of this song. As of now, I assume that this song was excluded from the movie.
"Mehbooba"(1976) was based on a novel by Gulshan Nanda. It was produced by Musheer-Riaz and directed by Shakti Samanta. The movie had Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Yogita Bali, Manmohan Krishan, Nazir Hussain, Sujit Kumar, Asrani, Asha Sachdev, Prem Chopra, Meena.T., Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Chandrashekhar, Leela Mishra, Madan Puri, Master Alankar, Birbal, UmaDutt, Raj Rani, Abhimanyu Sharma, Ram Murti Chaturvedi etc in it.
The movie had eight songs in it. Six of the songs have been covered in the past.
Here is the seventh song from "Mehbooba"(1976) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Lata. Anand Bakshi is the lyricist. music is composed by R D Burman.
It is a superb semi classical composition from a music director who was popularly known as one using western tunes and instruments in most of his compositions.
Curiously enough, such a wonderful composition based on Raag Bihaag could not find place in the movie. This song was not included in the movie. The record of the song thankfully were released and became quite popular.
"Amaanush"(1975) was produced and directed by Shakti Samanta for Shakti Films, Bombay. The movie, based on a Bangla story by Shaktipada Rajguru, was made in Hindi as well as Bangla with the same actors. The movie had Uttam Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Anil Chatterjee, Prema Narayan, Utpal Dutt, Abhi Bhattacharya, Manmohan, Asit Sen, Manik Dutt, Tarun Ghosh, Amol Sen, Subrotho Mahapatra, S N Bannerjee, Rajni Gupta, Probir Roy etc in it.
Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle, the two main playback singers of the movie were nominated for filmfare awards for best singers. Kishore Kumar went on to win the best male playback singer award for the song "dil aisa kisi ne mera toda".
Here is the fifth song from "Amaanush"(1975) to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle. Indeewar is the lyricist. Music is composed by Shyamal Mitra.
This song was excluded from the Hindi version of the movie and only its record version is available. However, the Bangla version of this song, sung by the same singers, was picturised in the Bangla version of "Amaanush" on Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore as Jodi hoye chor kaanta. One person has superimposed the Hindi song on the picturisation of the Bangla version of this song and has uploaded it on YT, passing it off as the "rare" clip of this song of "Amaanush"(1975) Hindi version.
Here is this lovely romantic duet from "Amaanush"(1975), which was excluded from the Hindi version but whose Bangla version was retained in the Bangla movie.
"Chor Baazaar"(1954) was produced and directed by P N Arora for All India Pictures, Bombay. The movie had Sumitra Devi, Shammi Kapoor, Chitra, Kammo, Amar, Wazir Mohammad Khan, Shameem, Ram Avtar, Cuckoo, S M Abbas, Parasram, Munshi Munaqqa, Jagdish Kanwal, Sheetal, Om Prakash etc with Wasti, Randhir and Shashikala as guest artists.
We all know the meaning of the word "Bhaand"; for those not conversant with colloquial Hindi; googling the word throws up meanings —Clown, Mimic, Comedian etc. "Bhaands" are also traditionally folk entertainers which might mean a storyteller, minstrels, dancers, actors, impressionists etc. Most bhaands belong to families that are engaged in folk entertainment as their hereditary profession, their specific art forms vary greatly by region, community and language. The term bhaand itself can also mean either a specific dramatic story or an entire form/school of drama.
So we are on our next movie which has one song left. This is the 1964 release "Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein". It was written, produced and directed by Kishore Kumar. The movie also had Kishore Kumar as music director.


Dum ka Murgh is also popularly known as Lagan ka Murgh in Hyderabad which is actually slow cooked marinaded chicken in cashew and poppy gravy. The chicken is marinaded in curd/yogurt and spices and later slow cooked which gives a rich color and texture to the gravy. Dum ka Murgh is one of the most favorite chicken dish in my family and I often make when i have guests at home. Garnished with cashews chunks and coriander, Dum ka Murgh goes best when served with Roomali Roti, Mandey or Butter Naan.


text:
package org.apache.druid.client.indexing;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
import org.joda.time.Interval;

import java.util.Objects;

/**
 * Client representation of org.apache.druid.indexing.common.task.KillUnusedSegmentsTask. JSON searialization
 * fields of this class must correspond to those of org.apache.druid.indexing.common.task.KillUnusedSegmentsTask, except
 * for "id" and "context" fields.
 */
public class ClientKillUnusedSegmentsTaskQuery implements ClientTaskQuery
{
  public static final String TYPE = "kill";

  private final String id;
  private final String dataSource;
  private final Interval interval;

  @JsonCreator
  public ClientKillUnusedSegmentsTaskQuery(
      @JsonProperty("id") String id,
      @JsonProperty("dataSource") String dataSource,
      @JsonProperty("interval") Interval interval
  )
  {
    this.id = Preconditions.checkNotNull(id, "id");
    this.dataSource = dataSource;
    this.interval = interval;
  }

  @JsonProperty
  @Override
  public String getId()
  {
    return id;
  }

  @JsonProperty
  @Override
  public String getType()
  {
    return TYPE;
  }

  @JsonProperty
  @Override
  public String getDataSource()
  {
    return dataSource;
  }

  @JsonProperty
  public Interval getInterval()
  {
    return interval;
  }

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object o)
  {
    if (this == o) {
      return true;
    }
    if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
      return false;
    }
    ClientKillUnusedSegmentsTaskQuery that = (ClientKillUnusedSegmentsTaskQuery) o;
    return Objects.equals(id, that.id) &&
           Objects.equals(dataSource, that.dataSource) &&
           Objects.equals(interval, that.interval);
  }

  @Override
  public int hashCode()
  {
    return Objects.hash(id, dataSource, interval);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Variant in LRRK2, Tied to Disease, Affects Gene's Activity in Microglia
by Marisa Wexler, MS | August 2, 2022
A Parkinson's-associated variant in the LRRK2 gene affects the gene's activity in a single group of brain cells: microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain.
"Our study demonstrates that cell type should be considered when evaluating the role of noncoding variation in disease pathogenesis [development]," the researchers wrote.
The study, "Association of a common genetic variant with Parkinson's disease is mediated by microglia," was published in Science Translational Medicine.
The causes of Parkinson's remain incompletely understood, but genetics are known to play a role in determining disease susceptibility. One of the disease's most closely linked genes is LRRK2; numerous variations in this gene have been tied to altered Parkinson's risk.
Many Parkinson's-related variants in LRRK2 are located in the protein-coding part of this gene. However, a most strongly associated variant is at a location dubbed rs76904798, just before the part of the gene that actually provides instructions for making a protein.
LRRK2 variant affects DNA sequences, Parkinson's risk
Most people have the nucleotide cytosine ("C") at this location, but others have a thymine ("T") that is associated with increased Parkinson's risk. Since everyone has two copies of the LRRK2 gene — one inherited from each biological parent — a given cell can have a genotype of "CC," "CT," or "TT" at this location.
Of note, nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA, and gene variants describe any change in the nucleotides, or DNA sequences, that compose a gene.
How these genetic differences might influence LRRK2 gene activity has been obscure. Here, a team led by scientists at the National Institute on Aging conducted a series of experiments to learn more.
In an initial analysis, the researchers analyzed gene expression data in brain cells collected by the North American Brain Expression Consortium. Gene expression basically measures how much individual genes are "turned on or off" — meaning they are expressed ("on") and translated into products like molecules and proteins, or they are not ("off") — and to what degree. Data on 117,632 individual cells, spanning all of the different types of brain cells, were in the analysis.
Expression of the LRRK2 gene was seen to be significantly higher in microglia with the Parkinson's-associated "TT" variant at rs76904798, compared to cells with the "CC" variant. Other cell types showed no changes in LRRK2 expression based on the rs76904798 variant.
"Therefore, we find a correlation between [Parkinson's] risk nominated by rs76904798 and LRRK2 expression only in microglia," the researchers wrote.
Lab dish experiments using stem cell-derived microglia yielded similar results, with microglia harboring the Parkinson's-associated variant showing higher LRRK2 gene expression, higher activity of the protein encoded by that gene, and increased inflammatory activity. Notably, altering two other Parkinson's-associated regions in the LRRK2 gene, rs76904798 with the "CT" variant and rs1491942, did not influence the rs76904798 variant's demonstrated effect on the gene's activity in microglia.
When a gene like LRRK2 is "read," molecular machinery inside of the cell has to physically interact with chromatin — the strands of DNA housing the gene. In further experiments, the scientists demonstrated that, in microglia housing the Parkinson's-associated variant, the chromatin region containing the LRRK2 gene is more open and easily accessible to these DNA-reading molecular machines.
"We hypothesize that the open chromatin regions in microglial DNA allow for the regulation of LRRK2 expression distinct from basal expression in different cells," the researchers wrote. "By extension, this suggests that there may be differences in the function of LRRK2 in different cell types in the human brain."
Marisa Wexler, MS Marisa holds a Master of Science in cellular and molecular pathology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied novel genetic drivers of ovarian cancer. Her areas of expertise include cancer biology, immunology, and genetics, and she has worked as a science writing and communications intern for the Genetics Society of America.
gene expression, gene variants, genetics, LRRK2, microglia, Parkinson's risk