Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North

Serreze has written a highly personal account of his experience as an environmental scientist researching the high Arctic, in particular the shrinkage of Arctic ice over the last 35 years. Although the amount of melting varies significantly from year to year, and only some of the reasons for the variation are understood, Serreze shows that the Arctic, including Greenland, is thawing at a much faster rate than was expected even a decade ago. Serreze details the growing knowledge about what is happening in the region, the puzzles scientists face in interpreting their observations, and the interplay between new data and climate models. His analysis will prove particularly valuable to budding scientists by illuminating how collaboration and cross-fertilization take place among scientists of different backgrounds, how scientists decide when to publish results, their continuing need to acquire more data, and how they fund research and expeditions.