Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years!

The Times, London ^ | Sunday, December 22, 2002 | Jonathan Leake

[freeforall]

Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years, study says Kyoto climate treaty came 'too late' to save polar ice from melting

Jonathan Leake The Times, London

Sunday, December 22, 2002

The ice cap covering the North Pole will vanish in less than 80 years as climate change melts it away, say British meteorological researchers.

The area covered by ice has shrunk by 20 per cent since the 1950s and its average winter thickness has reduced by 40 per cent since 1970. From detailed measurements of the rate of melting, the Met Office's Hadley Centre for monitoring climate change predicts the ice-cap will disappear around September 2079.

The Met Office research, to be published next year, assumes emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will continue to rise at their current rate. Many believe this will happen since the U.S. rejected the Kyoto climate treaty that would have cut emissions. Canada ratified the treaty Monday.

Geoff Jenkins, head of climate change prediction, said only a few icebergs would be left. "Our figures suggest that virtually all the ice will be gone," he said.

Even if the world reduced emissions by the maximum possible, it would only give a few years reprieve, says the Met Office.

"The greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere mean we will keep getting warmer for decades, whatever we do," said Mr. Jenkins. "Cutting emissions is important, but the effects will come too late to save the polar ice cap."

The loss of the ice cap will open up the Northwest Passage and enable ships to save thousands of kilometres on journeys between Europe and the Far East.

It could also change weather patterns. The larger expanse of open sea would increase evaporation and rainfall, possibly causing wetter summers in Europe. It might also allow more plankton to grow, thus boosting fish stocks.

For other wildlife, however, the change could be disastrous. Polar bears and seals would be hit hard because they rely on floating ice to hunt and breed.

"The north polar wildlife is unique, but it is going to have to adapt fast if it is to survive," said Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at Cambridge University.

The thinning of the ice has already hampered some expeditions to the pole. David Mill, a Briton, had to be rescued last May after finding his way blocked by thin ice.

The melting of the North Pole will not raise sea levels as all the ice is floating. There are, however, fears the temperature increases could melt Antarctica, the southern ice cap. This sits above sea level on a buried continent so melting would sharply raise sea levels.

© Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen

[steveegg]

Where's the next ice age that these same <expletive deleted>s were predicting 25 years ago?

[Asclepius]

The loss of the ice cap will open up the Northwest Passage and enable ships to save thousands of kilometres on journeys between Europe and the Far East.

Yes! Thank you, all you SUV operators.

[Bluntpoint]

"Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years"

Found growing between Hillary's thighs!

[reg45]

We won't need the ChiCom operated Panama Canal any more!

[Maelstrom]

Complaints about a longer growing season and a potential end to all hunger that isn't created politically?

[jimtorr]

Geoff Jenkins, head of climate change prediction, said only a few icebergs would be left. "Our figures suggest that virtually all the ice will be gone," he said.

Umm, Geoff, darling, the arctic pack ice breaks up nearly every summer, and is mostly just a bunch of icebergs.

There is also published information that talks about periods of arctic sea ice reduction that goes back centuries. Somehow the ice always comes back again.

This "story" is all about the Canadian ratification of Kyoto (as if they would follow through) and just another chance to bash USA.

[Ahban]

Inever had much use for it anyway.

[GOPmember]

Where's the next ice age that these same s were predicting 25 years ago?

Exactly. The sky is perpetually falling. Just to remind all what a bunch of Nostradami these sages are, the following are quotes from the first Earth Day in 1970:

"It is already too late to avoid mass starvation." Dennis Hayes, chief organizer--Earth Day 1

"At least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." Paul Ehrlich

"By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." Prof. Peter Gunter, North Texas State University

"In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution... by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half..." `Life' Magazine, January 1970

"Air pollution... is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." Paul Ehrlich

"By the year 2000... there won't be any more crude oil." Ecologist Kenneth Watt

"In 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct." Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary, Smithsonian Institute

"The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years... the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." Kenneth Watt

"In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash program embarked upon now." Paul Ehrlich, "The Population Bomb" (1968)

[b4its2late]

You mean, no more ice fishing?

[DWSUWF]

"...Where's the next ice age that these same s were predicting 25 years ago?..."

We've got dweebs pushing policy and setting agendas who weren't even born when that equally fanciful theory was being advanced.

Getting older means having a front row seat at the 'Special Olympics' that is the human condition, doesn't it?

[Sentis]

I'm going to let you guys in on something these meteorologists and climatologists don't have a clue about. Between the years 1300-1400 the this planet sank into what is called the little ice age. Before the ice age average global temperatures were two degrees higher than they are today. We began coming out of this little ice age around 1850 and are still climbing out of it today. Global warming is a lie. If these climatologists made a ten second search on the history of climate change they would discover we are still below the warm temperatures that were experienced during the late roman period and early Middle ages.


http://www.grisda.org/origins/10051.htm

[Momaw Nadon]

Wow, this sounds series!

;-)

[Sentis]

The best thing that would happen if the ice caps melted is that all the Liberals in New York city and Washington would drown.

[freeforall]

Weather control ping!

[MonroeDNA]

Excellent post!

[chainsaw]

Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years!

Just the end of the last ice age coming up. Now if I were Gore the Bore, I would spend hundreds of billions of dollars attempting to change the weather. </sarcasm>

[andyofvt]

can any of these doomsayers please tell me accurately and without resevation what the weather is going to be tomorow.

[TightSqueeze]

Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years!

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