http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566601,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r5:c0.000000:b0:z5 Scientist: Arctic Ocean to Be Ice-Free in Summer Thursday , October 15, 2009 ADVERTISEMENTLONDON — Global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said on Thursday. Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge, said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years. The changes will mean the top of the Earth will appear blue rather than white when photographed from space and ships will have a new sea route north of Russia. Scientists say evidence of melting Arctic ice is one of the clearest signs of global warming and it should send a warning to world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December for U.N. talks on a new climate treaty. "The data supports the new consensus view — based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition — that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years," Wadhams said in a statement. "Much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years." Wadhams, one of the world's leading experts on sea ice cover in the North Pole region, compared ice thickness measurements taken by a Royal Navy submarine in 2007 with evidence gathered by the British explorer Pen Hadow earlier this year. Hadow and his team on the Catlin Arctic Survey drilled 1,500 holes to gather evidence during a 280 mile walk across the Arctic. They found the average thickness of ice-floes was 1.8 metres, a depth considered too thin to survive the summer's ice melt. Sometimes referred to as the Earth's air-conditioner, the Arctic Sea plays a vital role in the world's climate. As Arctic ice melts in summer, it exposes the darker-coloured ocean water, which absorbs sunlight instead of reflecting it, accelerating the effect of global warming. Dr Martin Sommerkorn, from the environmental charity WWF's Arctic programme, which worked on the survey, said the predicted loss of ice could have wide-reaching affects around the world. "The Arctic Sea ice holds a central position in our Earth's climate system. Take it out of the equation and we are left with a dramatically warmer world," he said. "This could lead to flooding affecting one-quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions .... and extreme global weather changes." Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said the research "sets out the stark realities of climate change". "This further strengthens the case for an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen," he added.
LOL! Such a bunch of BS. The "Cappers" are always claiming crap like this when everyone knows the earth is flat.
Hilarious that they thought those effects were important enough to list in the third paragraph, and it isn't until the 10th paragraph that we get to this: barfo
The real problem this world is facing is continental drift - yet people get their panties in a wad over a little bit of ice. What's more harmful - a little bit of ice cream falling of your cone or the base of you cone running away to bump other cones? See?
My understanding is the precipitation/evaporation cycle will speed up leading to severe weather very cold, very hot, very dry or very wet. We will see much more extreme weather and much less temperate weather that allowed for civilization to really get going along the technology belt. If you watch/read Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" you will see just how important a temperate environment is to humans. It's the reason Western Europe came to dominate much of the globe rather then say South America. The temperate climate along with the animals attracted to said climes gave those humans a huge edge in developing civilization and technology. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
For us, here, the polar area as a source region for air mass is too high a latitude. I would think that the effects would be more easily felt above 50 deg N.
Yes, the warmest year was 1998. 'Tis true. Now let's look at the graph. 1998 was anomalously warm, but the long-term trend is very clear. barfo
There is no stopping it. It's too late. On top of that, the Earth has a warming cycle and a cooling cycle. Humans are just accelerating the cycle a bit. We'll have to adapt. That's it. I wonder if they'll help the polar bears relocate to Canada and Greenland. They've gotta have a home or will we just let them go extinct?
Polar bears will be relocated to housing projects in Biloxi, Mississippi, suburban Chicago, and Riverside California. barfo
No Portland, OR? They could help keep Portland weird....and I thought I was the only one on here at 3am.
