Posted on 09/28/2005 6:27:13 PM PDT by blam
Arctic ice cap 'will disappear within the century'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 29/09/2005)
The Arctic ice cap is on track to disappear within a century, according to a study published yesterday.
The satellite survey by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), and the space agency Nasa reveals that for the fourth consecutive year there has been "a stunning reduction" in Arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer, placing species such as polar bears at risk.
The reduction in ice levels places Arctic wildlife at risk
The survey recorded the lowest sea-ice extent yet seen - 2.06 million square miles on Sept 19 - 20 per cent below the mean average September sea-ice extent from 1978 to 2001.
That is the equivalent of 500,000 square miles - an area about twice the size of Texas.
This year "will almost certainly surpass 2002 as the lowest amount of ice cover in more than a century", said Julienne Stroeve, of the Centre. If current rates of decline in sea ice continue, the summertime Arctic could be ice-free well before the end of this century.
A recent assessment of trends throughout the past century indicates that the current decline also exceeds past low ice periods in the 1930s and 1940s.
From 1979 until 2001, the rate of September decline was slightly more than 6.5 per cent a decade. In 2002, the trend steepened to 7.3 per cent and is now approximately 8 per cent.
Walt Meier, of NSIDC, said: "Having four years in a row with such low ice extents has never been seen before in the satellite record. It indicates a downward trend, not just a short-term anomaly."
Cooler winter temperatures allow the sea ice to "rebound" after summer melting. But with the exception of May 2005, every month since December 2004 has set a new record low ice extent for that month. The winter recovery of sea ice extent in the 2004-05 season was also the smallest observed by satellites.
"Even if sea ice retreated a lot one summer, it would make a comeback the following winter, when temperatures fall well below freezing," said Florence Fetterer, of NSIDC. "But in the winter of 2004-05, sea ice didn't approach the previous wintertime level."
Compared to the past half century, average surface air temperatures from January until August 2005, were up to 3C (5.4F) warmer than average across most of the Arctic Ocean. Since 2002, satellite records have also revealed that springtime melting is beginning unusually early north of Alaska and Siberia.
This summer, the Northwest Passage was open except for a 60-mile swath of scattered ice floes, a far cry from earlier centuries when expeditions were lost as their crews tried to beat through thick ice. The Northeast Passage, north of the Siberian coast, was ice-free from Aug 15 until Sept 28.
The Arctic may be caught in a feedback loop caused by global warming. As sea ice melts there is less to reflect the sun's radiation back into space and experts fear that the downward trend is reaching a point from which the ice will not recover.
Northwest passage bump.
Good. I never liked it anyway.
So this means trade routes between North America and Asia can take advantage of the new ice-free zone?
Give me a B,Give me an S
Believe it or not this may trigger a new ice age. Open water in the arctic ocean will cause the gulf stream to pump warm water into the arctic ocean which will increase snowfall over the northern latitudes.
And if it keeps cooling off like it has since this afternoon, we'll all be dead in couple weeks.
Our number one mission now...is to save Santa. If we have to relocate him...where? Could we set up a secret base of operations at the SuperDome...since it is vacant for the next couple of years? He needs plenty of secure operating grounds...and lots of grazing areas for his raindeer.
Whatever you say.
Polar Bears are adaptable and the tree line will move north so there will be more ply wood for home building. With more growing seasons due to the axis tilt the ptamigans will mate more and moose will eat more and moose turd production will increase significantly!
Unfortunately the melt will effect the pingos! But not Freeper pings!
"Does this mean that Santa Clause is a goner?"
You mean George Bush killed Santa???
Oh NOOOOOOOOO
So you mean the ice cap will naturally restore itself? Cool.
Well by then I'll be about 140 years old so it might be okay, old people like the heat. :P
The poles are shifting and in 100 years or so, many European and East Asian countries will be covered by ice up to 1000 feet and more in spots. (/ArtBell)
No. That will make it 'wetlands'!
The world is on track to freeze by next month, at the rate that the temperature has dropped in the last hour.
that'll teach banks to lend 100 year mortgages on the coast
I wonder if these are the same people who were predicting in the 1970s, with absolute certainty, that an Ice Age was coming. I wonder if any of these Kyoto-bots even remember that.
We're looking at under 40 degrees for tomorrow night.
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