any use of terms that are not straight forward is wrong IMO. in this case we are dealing with the useless term "nearly icefree" and it's meaningless definition. facts do not have to be defined. as long as we have ice we measure as it is in km2 and km3, extent, area and volume. the only meaningful term that matters is "ice free" and that does speak for itself, icefree is no ice at all.
for any other scenario it's absolutely sufficient to deal with common numbers like for example 100'000km2 of ice, that's telling the entire story without need for a new term and new definition that has to be defined and hence will be defined in different manners and hence will lead to back and forth debates about the term itself and absorb time and energy that would be better used to debate solutions.
>> Reacting to, "the useless term "nearly icefree" and it's meaningless definition", along with if it is defined you get mess.
The thought is using the remote-sensing data now available with an albedo-loss quotient tied to the current conditions of the ice, immediate recognition of the change to "rotten ice" new to the Inuit, new to science indicating a change of state.
Barber reports open-area increasing in all months of the year. My take is that the change to rotten ice is the last penultimate state before bluewater [There are very deep stacks of wind-driven slabs now, yet, it's not multi-year ice in properties, not a replacement that way & the process making it not the same].
Albedo-loss is today= 20-years of CO2 forcing = 0.21-watts/m² ... at the FEEM talk last spring was stated that albedo-loss is the greatest source of warming in the Arctic by far, it's a specific-heat water vs reflected LWIR difference so a huge input.
The implications of not knowing this are big-deals in trying to use emissions to control global-warming, doesn't look good, far better to preserve sea-ice or bust.
Afaik albedo-loss heat-gain is not in models as a dynamic property if at all.
We have such good info already to not use it dynamically to me as a software architect is like unreal archaic thinking before API's.
The consequential condition is when large areas turn to rotten ice, not how much area is left, this can be done from satellite with recent voyages ground-proofing the satellite interpretation & last fall's voyage by APL, that involved a lot of institutions processing aspects now.
My vote really is for neither and use the data as outlined, neither are recognizing a pivotal new form of sea-ice and the relationship to albedo-loss to runaway heating of the Arctic to show the seriousness of losing the ice to total bluewater input in one season vs now.
We need to vizualize these relationships tied to what ice is there, to an old local there for the big melt of 2007 jellyfish thrive in the exposed sea, not more fish, the biological changes tied as well, eh?