Dr. Jennifer Kay, a post doc at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR), was at Lamont recently to give a
talk entitled “Mechanisms for Recent Sea Loss.” Kay’s talk
offered a detailed explanation of recent sea loss in the Arctic,
including the all-time low experienced in 2007. Kay also
outlined mechanisms that may have led to the relative rebound of
ice cover witnessed this past melt season and offered several
assessments on the implications of her research. Kay’s work
relies heavily on observations from a relatively new satellite
constellation known as the “A-Train.” A group of five satellites
launched over the last seven years, the A-Train takes near-
simultaneous pictures of the Earth’s atmosphere. Using A-Train
observations, Kay and colleagues have been able to analyze
information that was not previously available, including data
regarding air temperature, humidity, and cloud structure. This
information has allowed Kay to reconstruct atmospheric
conditions experienced during the 2007 melt seaso