September marks the time of year when polar ice cover is at its lowest. After last year's record low, Arctic researchers say we're in for another bad year – and what is perhaps an irreversible trend.

Polar ice cover as of yesterday. Source: Univ. of Illinois Polar Research Group

On Tuesday, scientists reported another Manhattan-Island-sized chunk broke off an Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic.

a University of Illinois site allows you to bring the out-of-sight/out-of-mind Arctic to your desktop. If you want to track the day-by-day status of the Arctic ice cap, and compare it to past years, go here. The images, from the Illinois Polar Research Group, track Arctic ice coverage day by day back to 1979. See for yourself, and let us know what you think.

Also - more tomorrow on our parade of hurricanes across the Atlantic: Hanna looks to have uncertain potential for East Coast damage; Josephine hopefully will remain a mid-Atlantic storm and not reach land; but Ike could be a big one for the Gulf of Mexico.

Peter Dykstra Executive Producer CNN Science, Tech & Weather

Filed under: climate change • environment • hurricanes • meteorology • Oceans • Severe weather • Weather

Just like the dance-hall Conga Lines of the 1950's and earlier, tropical systems are lining up across the Atlantic and headed this way. Let's take a look one-by-one.

As Gustav fades, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine line up to potentially take aim at the US or Caribbean.

Gustav roared through the Gulf Coast, missing a worst-case scenario in New Orleans but causing plenty of damage elsewhere: coastal damage is spread all through Cajun country, and the Mississippi Coast. Heavy rains will continue, and many Louisianans may be without electric power for a week or more.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin tagged the approaching Gustav as the "Mother of All Storms." Nagin, roundly criticized during Katrina as were his state and federal counterparts, effectively frightened his city into a successful evacuation.  In fact, emergency managers on all levels erred on the side of caution rather than repeat the sad blunders of Katrina. And, of course, the levees didn't fail. The bottom line was a measure of reassurance for New Orleans. Whether it was well-placed is another matter.

It's important to bear in mind that neither Gustav nor Katrina brought full fury to New Orleans. Katrina was a Category Three storm when it passed to the east of the city, forcing a wall of water into New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast. Gustav was a Cat Two when it passed far to the west of the city, which was barely on the fringe of hurricane-force winds. Tide gauges measured about a five-foot surge in Lake Ponchartrain yesterday. So the real bottom line may be that a bigger test still awaits the engineers, leaders, and people of New Orleans.

Next up is Hanna, forecast to be a weak hurricane making a U.S landfall Friday, possibly at or near Savannah, Georgia. It's been 110 years since Savannah took a direct hit, the longest lucky streak of any major coastal U.S. city in the hurricane zone. Hanna is now bringing heavy rain to Haiti (as of midday Tuesday).

After that, Ike. While it's too soon to give any definitive forecast for the tropical storm, it could be headed to the Gulf of Mexico, according to several long-range models.

Today the National Hurricane Center named a new one: Josephine, forming as a tropical storm off the African coast, could cross the ocean to threaten in 7 to 10 days.

Peter Dykstra Executive Producer CNN Science, Tech & Weather

Filed under: hurricanes • Weather

In East Baton Rouge parish, dozens of emergency operations personnel are hunched over their computers, looking at weather maps, power grids, and work schedules. More police are on the streets because all officers are now working 12 hour shifts through Gustav's rage.

East Baton Rouge parish officials wait out the worst blast of Gustav. Source: CNN

Power is starting to go out across this parish, as the number of outages in Louisiana has climbed past 368,000.

Once the winds hit a sustained 30 miles per hour, power crews and some emergency responders will hunker down until the storm passes.

"I'm never confident, I'm cautious," said Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden. He also wears the hat of president of East Baton Rouge parish.

Holden said Hurricane Katrina taught a lot of lessons, among them, urging citizens to take on a bigger dose of personal responsibility.

"We are stressing an ‘adopt a buddy' system, especially for folks who have elderly neighbors," said Holden. "We want them to check on them on a regular basis, to make sure they have food and medicine and make sure they are safe," he said.

Unlike the New Orleans area, this parish did not have any mandatory evacuations. But depending on the amount of flooding here, emergency personnel are gearing up for rescues after the storm passes.

The Baton Rouge Emergency Operations Center is doing double duty. Along with its own fire, police, public works, animal control and other government departments, this very secure facility is also hosting some officials from nearby Jefferson parish, expected to get the full brunt of Gustav.

While first responders are on duty within Jefferson parish, other departments, such as personnel, legal, and environmental services are sharing space with their Baton Rouge counterparts.

"We're just behind the scenes here, trying to keep the government flowing," said Louis Gruntz.

-Marsha Walton, Producer, CNN Science & Technology

Filed under: hurricanes • Weather

A rescue group that saved 1200 animals after Hurricane Katrina is back at work in Louisiana.

This puppy now has a safe place to ride out the storm north of St. Bernard parish. Photo courtesy Pasado’s Safe Haven

Overnight they moved 67 animals to safety from the St. Bernard parish [county] shelter to a donated farm near Folsom, Louisiana.

Volunteers from Pasado's Safe Haven, based in Monroe, Washington, took 45 dogs and 22 cats to the 600 acre farm. Among the canines rescued were 8 puppies dumped in the shelter parking lot.

The St. Bernard Shelter has just two employees, and does not have the kind of funding it would take for such a major undertaking as relocating all of its animals. The visiting rescue crew arrived at the farm about 9pm Saturday night, then walked the dogs and cleaned their cages after the journey from the shelter. Some of the volunteers spent the night on air mattresses in the barn with the animals.

But Pasado founder Susan Michaels said the real work will start after Gustav hits.

"Our biggest concern is that a lot of animals will be left behind," said Michaels.

During hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, some residents perished or were stranded when they refused to leave their homes and go to shelters because they could not take their pets. The state of Louisiana made some changes to prevent that kind of tragedy again.

Their major focus was on citizens with special needs. Those with small animals, 15 pounds or less, could bring their animals with them on evacuation buses. Larger animals were crated and transported to two special shelters where pet owners would be near their pets. Those shelters are in Shreveport and Alexandria, Louisiana.

And while there are some other pet/human shelters, state officials have been urging the general population to take care of their pets with the same care as they would any other family member.

"From the commissioner's office to the state veterinarian, we have all been preaching personal responsibility. Planning for an emergency is part of being a responsible pet owner," said Sam Irwin, press secretary for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The non profit rescue group Pasado's Safe Haven, founded in 1994, has helped pass four anti-cruelty laws. They are looking for volunteers, and provide a no-nonsense list of criteria for those who think they might want to travel to Louisiana AFTER Gustav hits. Among the requirements:

–You will need to be able-bodied
–Be able to lift a minimum of 50 lbs.
–Be willing to muck stalls, clean kennels, walk dogs.
–Have upbeat attitude. No WHINERS.

More information is available at the Pasado web site.

Marsha Walton CNN Science and Technology Producer in New Orleans

Filed under: Animals • hurricanes • Severe weather

As most of us anxiously watch the path of Hurricane Gustav, satellite images show us the movement of this fierce storm. But satellites and radars are not the only tools that help forecasters predict where, when, and how strong storms will be.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists have placed dozens of these storm surge sensors in the path of Hurricane Gustav. Photo courtesy USGS

In the hours leading up to Gustav's landfall, several teams of scientists slogged through southern Louisiana, deploying weather instruments to get data during the storm. It is information that can both document what this storm is doing, and help forecasters better predict future tropical storms and hurricanes.

Two teams from the Texas Tech University hurricane research team spent Sunday placing two dozen sensors in the path of the storm.

"Basically the idea is to saturate the area with observation, trying to cover south central Louisiana with these probes," said Ian Giammanco, field coordinator for the research team.

The instruments are designed to help meteorologists determine what wind speeds caused what type of damage. Their sensors, seven foot instruments known as "stick-nets," function as complete mini weather stations.

"We hope in the future to be able to do this in real time," said Giammanco.

But for now that option is far too expensive.

The field research is funded by the National Science Foundation and Texas Tech University.

Another team of scientists, from the U. S. Geological Survey, (USGS) positioned about 90 storm surge sensors along the Gulf Coast.

"From those instruments we want to learn the time, the duration, and the velocity of the surge," said Brian McCallum, assistant director of the Georgia Water Science Center.

That information can help forecasters model different types of storms, to help predict their impact.

The USGS first placed these sensors in hurricanes Rita and Wilma in 2005.

Both the Texas Tech and USGS researchers are hunkering down a safe distance from the coast until the storm passes. They will recover their instruments a day or two after the danger has passed.

Marsha Walton, CNN Science and Technology Producer, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Filed under: Flooding • hurricanes • meteorology • Severe weather