The Arctic Ocean is likely to have its first ice-free summer before 2050, according to an analysis of simulations from more than 40 different climate models. How frequently the sea ice vanishes in the summer depends on the rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the future.

As temperatures warm across much of the globe, how often will people be threatened by extreme heat and extreme air pollution happening at the same time?

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have used an ensemble of multiple climate model runs to simulate conditions along potential routes for the MOSAiC polar expedition, using today’s conditions in the “new Arctic.” The results suggest that thinner sea ice may carry the ship farther than would be expected compared to historical conditions and the sea ice around the ship may melt earlier than the 12-month goal. Of the 30 model runs analyzed in the new study, five (17%) showed melt-out in less than a year.

Scientists at NCAR designed and built one of the Inouye Solar Telescope’s five instruments: the Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP). This extremely versatile instrument can observe any wavelength across the visible spectrum of the Sun’s radiation, allowing scientists a huge degree of flexibility to explore.

NCAR is joining the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium by providing one of the nation's leading supercomputers to help research the deadly pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus