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.
Dealing with the big egos, it's probably what I need.
So to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars, this beaker was able to finally determine something that they could have know by asking the Innuit.
What you say is 100% accurate. The competition amongst the "scientific" community for the free dollars is amazing.
I seem to recall that the later part of their journey was darker. Now I'm going to have to dig that thing out.
Invalid scientific arguments seem to constitute the entire basis of current discussions of climate change.
Oh, yes. But like bigfoot, as soon as one thing is debunked they come back with more proof.
No need to dig it out...I understand what you're saying. My reference to resupply was towards the Polar Bear snack on skis.
We used only the purest water. Or at least I did. I can't vouch for the other FReepers. :)
Sorry tp...I would never be able to compete with you in the field of advanced BS pursuits; your dominance in the field is just too overwhelming.
If I'm not mistaken, there a story almost exactly like this about the ice cap melting early last year or the year before, and didn't the NYT run it as a front page item? Then within a month there was another story that was explaining that the ice cap sometimes remains intact but mostly melts in the summer months and the author was an ex-Greenpeace "scientist." Is my recollection faulty or does anyone else recall this?
All this talk of Chief's reminds me of my favorite joke:
The 5 Scariest Things You Can Hear in The Army:
1. A Private saying, "I learned this in basic training..."
2. A Sergeant saying, "Trust me, sir..."
3. A Second Lieutenant saying, "Based on my experience..."
4. A Captain saying, "I was just thinking..."
5. And a Warrant Officer chuckling, "Watch this $%!#..."
You beat me to that one. I may give up my subscription to National Geographic if they do one more story on someone like this.
Unfortunately for me I had a staff assignment for two years; fortunately I worked for an admiral that I actually admired.
One day he told me something very similar. It went something like:
The Seaman had a question.
The Petty Officer had an idea.
The Chief had a suggestion.
The Lieutenant had an opinion.
The Warrant had an attitude.
LOL! It's been a while since I have seen that one. As I remember, it was a WO Aviator in #5. That was me on my first tour in Nam. Second tour I had grown more cautious.
Post an instance of my slinging 'BS', hotshot. -- Your history here is full of it.
Hey, some people just dismiss you as a sour old fool...I recognize your genius as something gained only through diligence.
A young Lieutenant was assigned as the General's Aide. Everytime the General was having a discussion with someone else the Aide would add his 2 cents. The General took him aside and explained that he should be seen and not heard unless he was asked to say something. The Aide, taking the 'dressing down' as a test by the General to see how aggressive he might be said, "Sir, I'm sure you didn't make General by always keeping your mouth shut!" The General said, "No, but that's how I made Captain!"
There is more year to year variation in sea ice patterns and amounts than there is long term. I once saw some wonderful maps which showed this I'll see if I can find them. Also, correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the ice circulate around the pole in a manner which can result in very rapid opening and closing of navigation routes?
Same place the "white" goes when the snow melts.
You are correct. I believe it takes the ice cap a year to rotate. Back in the late 70's the Coast Guard drove one of the old Wind Class Breakers into the ice cap quite a ways then flew out most of the crew. The station keeping crew and ever present beakers spent a year as it made it's slow circuit.
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