Posted on 04/03/2009 9:09:10 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) Some 80 percent of Arctic ice may disappear in 30 years, not 90 as scientists had previously estimated, according to a new study on the impact of global warming.
"The amount of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice at the end of summer by then could be only about 1 million square kilometers, or about 620,000 square miles," said US researchers who authored the study published Thursday.
"That's compared to today's ice extent of 4.6 million square kilometers, or 2.8 million square miles," they added, warning the development "raises the question of ecosystem upheaval."
The scientists made their projections based on models that took accounted for changes in Arctic ice, which saw "dramatic declines" at the end of summer in 2007 and 2008, when the ice surface dropped to 4.3 and 4.6 million square kilometers (1.7 and 1.8 million square miles), respectively.
The models pointed to a "nearly ice-free" Arctic in just 32 years, with some of the models making the same prediction for 11 years from now.
"In recent years, the combination of unusual warm temperatures from natural causes and the global warming signal have worked together to provide an earlier summer sea-ice loss than was predicted," said James Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Good.
It’ll be easier to drill for oil.
Hmmmmmmm? Did any of these experts come to SW Florida this past winter. We actually made a snowball from the ice on the car window. We lost several trees from the freezing temperatures. I sure the earths temperatures are more related to pockets in space which we past through in the continuous rotation in the suns orbit and the suns orbit in our galaxy. Hey, sounds ridiculous? Nah, it is no more ridiculous than Gore’s crap.
See, I just remember the morons who said we were going to run out of oil worldwide in 1972, and I realize the same mush minded people who bought into that are the same ones buying into global warming.
I think the libs constantly reference that author who made that claim.
All right.
It seem EVERY article on golbal warming using the the word “maybe” in its headline.
You know “maybe” it won’t be ice free in 30 years!!
(yeah, yeah, I know .. it's "tout suite")
Whoa You’re way up there. The idea of being skeeter and biting fly free is attractive but paying for heat all year bites worse.
MORONS!
They can't even convert square kilometers to square miles. The kilometer to mile factor doesn't work until you square it.
One million square kilometers is 386,000 square miles.
Rapid growth spurt leaves amount of ice at levels seen 29 years ago. Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close. ...Earlier this year, predictions were rife that the North Pole could melt entirely in 2008. Instead, the Arctic ice saw a substantial recovery. Bill Chapman, a researcher with the UIUC's Arctic Center, tells DailyTech this was due in part to colder temperatures in the region. Chapman says wind patterns have also been weaker this year. Strong winds can slow ice formation as well as forcing ice into warmer waters where it will melt. Why were predictions so wrong? Researchers had expected the newer sea ice, which is thinner, to be less resilient and melt easier. Instead, the thinner ice had less snow cover to insulate it from the bitterly cold air, and therefore grew much faster than expected, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Thirty years of sea ice data. The record begins at 1979, the year satellite observations began (Source: Arctic Research Center, University of Illinois)
The trouble is, if I base my models on this data, I would not qualify for a “Global Warming” grant.
It looks to me that the ice is getting larger in the last two years, so I would extrapolate it to Canada being 100% under ice in a century.
We can all join this scam, err modeling, game....:^)
That what some are saying.
For fun and a good laugh read this:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/03/12/bancrofttrip/
I did my own research study and I predict their will be more ice in 45 years—lot less! So much more the seas will recede and you will be able to walk to Hawaii! Now give me loads of cash.
Last couple years have been colder than normal, but the ice goes out earlier with each year; by a couple days. Last year it let loose end of April. So who knows what that all means? I'm just ready for a little more global warming right about now.
The only way it will be ice free in 30 years is if the Nuclear Fusion they promised us 30 years ago is figured out in the next 30 years time and hundreds of thousands of Fusion Reactors are built around the arctic circle for the express purpose of heating up water in the arctic sea.
morons w/PhDs
Arctic ice is melting because of unprecedented seafloor volcanic activity. The experts and propagandists and media scribes aren’t invested in facts,- they are invested in scaring the gullible marks. Stampeding the masses is their goal.
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