Arctic sea ice underestimated due to faulty sensor!
BOULDER, Colorado - February 20, 2009 - A glitch in satellite sensors caused scientists to underestimate the extent of Arctic sea ice by 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles), a Kalifornia-size area, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The error, due to a problem called “sensor drift,” began in early January and caused a slowly growing underestimation of sea ice extent until mid-February. That’s when “puzzled readers” alerted the NSIDC about data showing ice-covered areas as stretches of open ocean, the Boulder, Colorado-based group said on its Web site.
“Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality control measures prior to archiving the data,” reported the Center. “Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.”
Ed. Note: The National Snow and Ice Data Center is not a government agency but a university department whose funding is in large part dependent on the public perception of an imminent catastrophic climate event.
