Posted on 05/17/2004 11:54:12 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
OTTAWA (Reuters) -
Summer temperatures in the Arctic have risen at an incredible rate over the past three years and large patches of what should be ice are now open water, a British polar explorer said on Monday.
Ben Saunders, forced by the warm weather to abandon an attempt to ski solo from northern Russia across the North Pole to Canada, said he had been amazed at how much of the ice had melted.
"It's obvious to me that things are changing a lot and changing very quickly," a sunburned Saunders told Reuters less than two days after being rescued from the thinning ice sheet close to the North Pole.
"I do know it's happening because that was my third time in the Arctic (in the last three years)," said Saunders, who explored the region in 2001 and 2003.
An international study last year said global warming would melt most of the Arctic icecap in summertime by the end of the century. Many scientists blame the rising temperatures on human emissions of greenhouse gases while others point to what they say are longer-term natural warming and cooling cycles.
"The temperatures were incredibly warm ... I had days when I could ski with no gloves and no hat at all, just in bare hands, because I was too hot," said Saunders.
Logs from an expedition in 2001 showed the average Arctic temperature at this time of year was minus 15 to minus 20 degrees Celsius (plus 5 to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).
Saunders said the average temperature this time was just minus 5 to minus 7 degrees Celsius (23 to 19 degrees Fahrenheit).
"I saw open water every single day of the expedition, which is not what I was expecting," said Saunders, who had to don a special thermal suit and drag his sled across open patches of water nine times during the 71 days he spent alone. He covered a total of 965 km (600 miles) before giving up.
"I think a ski crossing from land to land (Russia to Canada) if conditions stay the same -- let alone get any worse -- is impossible," he said.
Saunders had planned to set off from Russia's northernmost Arctic islands in March but instead of ice, he discovered a 70 km (34 mile) open stretch of water. He had to be flown to the closest pack ice.
"The ice was terrible, right from the word go; very smashed up, very few flat areas," he said, adding that the usually impermeable multiyear ice was thinning.
"(It) is becoming less stable and it's breaking up more easily. There are enormous pressure ridges, and enormous areas of what I'd describe as rubble."
Saunders said he had also been struck by the almost complete absence of polar bears on the Russian side.
"That surprised me a lot ... that's historically been a very concentrated area for bears," he said.
"Whereas in 2001 we were attacked by a bear on day two (of the trek) and saw bear tracks nearly every day for the first three weeks, this year I saw four sets of tracks during the entire expedition."
Polar bears hunt out on the ice during summer months and are forced to retreat back to land when the ice is too thin.
Saunders said the weather had been poor for much of the trip with much more cloud cover and fog than he had expected. The fresh snow he encountered was soft and bulky, unlike the typical hard, fine-grained snow found in the Arctic.
Finished trying the melting ice experiment yet?
I gotta question: If we are losings so many jobs to overseas manufacturers..should we by default be sending less green house gases in to the atmostphere. Meaning who needs the US adhearing to KYOTO.
No...I was finished with the junk scientist doom and gloom people years ago though.
Buried in a dusty stack somewhere I have a National Geographic from the mid-80s in which a pair of Norwegians made a similar journey. I don't remember the details, except that A) they managed to put down a very large polar bear with a small 44 magnum, and B) they had to schedule the trip for a precise time window as the ice would begin melting in the early spring.
Exactly, I haven't seen a change.
I thought your theory was correct and I'm trying to prove it.
The Chief won't admit a mistake, though.
You can always tell a Warrant Officer - - You just can't tell 'em much.
No offense, Chief, I was one.
"drag his sled across open patches of water nine times"
I'd like to see that. Every time I try to drag a sled across open patches of water, I end up under water.
Whalers who worked the Arctic for years would sometime be trapped by ice forming far faster then in previous years.
dumber then a box of rocks.
I like your experiment with Rum and Coke.
Another thing about Warrants...they don't suffer fools lightly.
I've never really understood why conservatives wish to handicap themselves in scientific matters.
I have to tell you, I don't take strays in. I send them to the pound where they are gassed if no one claims them.
History records a mini ice age in the 1400s (I believe) that had many rivers in Europe frozen that had never been frozen before. Which internal combustion engines were responsible for the subsequent warming? The earth goes through periods of cooling and warming which does not mean that mankind is responsible for it.
Are you sure about that?
Quite confusing.
At the same time we hear about freezing over we now are exposed to news from a skier prevented to ski from Russia to Canada that there is too much open water for lack of cold.
I'm still waiting for an accurate weather report for the next five days and therefore are less concerned about forecasts covering the next 50 years.
Hey, if it's no better then guessing I guess I should be one of the global warming/global cooling community.
Think about your scotch and soda with ice cubes in the glass. As they melt, does the scotch and soda overflow the edge of the glass? No. Same with the polar ice that is floating.
My error has been pointed out regarding floating sea ice.
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