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

[Lessismore]

The effect of an open Arctic Ocean could be significant. Currently the air in the Arctic is both cold and dry. The northern islands of Canada are the drier than other parts of North America, except for the southwestern deserts.

On consequence would be increased moisture in the atmosphere. This traps more sunlight during the summer and results in additional heating.

Another consequence is that the southwesterly winds off the Arctic Ocean would result in a great deal more rain and snow in northern Canada. This may result in the start of a new glacier building cycle there. If there is a significant amount of rain or snow melt being introduced into the north Atlantic, this could reduce the Gulf Stream and its heat transfer from the south. This could trigger new glaciation over northern Europe.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

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

Actually, the estimate is excess mortality of 50,000 per year in the United States due to coal burning. Victims of opposition to Nuclear power. Not burning coal would be worse, BTW, since the benefits of coal-burning outweigh the costs.

Also, nuclear power releases no greenhouse gasses.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Exactly! You were wise to note that the gloom-&-doomers are careful to predict circumstances beyond their lifetimes. It is so much better to be forgotten in death that to be held accountable and ridiculed in life.

[Republic of Texas]

" Arctic ice cap to vanish in 80 years! "

Women, Children and Minorities to suffer most!

[ASA Vet]

The real problem is that the Kyoto climate treaty had no provision placing limits
and punishments on the real cause of global warming.
If the Sun had been prohibited from having cycles, and punished
if it continued, Kyoto would have been worthy of
President sink masters signature.

[hgro]

This is good news for the Canadians. Now they can rape the north pole like they have been doing on Vancouver Island.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Snow problem.

[ghostrider]

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

Thanks to Jonathan Leake for the "hot" tip. When it melts, Florida will be mostly under water. My trash dump sitting on a hill will be beach front property, and I'll get rich. Since he gave me the tip, I'll offer him a 10% discount on the corner lot. However, he will have to remove the bottles and cans.

[joesnuffy]

ice cap missing ...heck I still cant find my Milwaukee Braves hat I lost moving a few years back

[IronJack]

This will come as bad news to those of you with ocean-front condos on the Ross Ice Shelf.

[IronJack]

Great quotes! These doomsdayers need to be constantly reminded of their hyperbole. They make the weatherman look like the Delphic Oracle.

[SW6906]

I remember reading an article a while back where the whole "the polar ice cap is shrinking/breaking up" theory was dismissed as an inaccurate analysis of the data because they forgot to take into account the fact that the ice is constantly moving. When they took that into account, they found there was no significant loss of ice.

Something like that. I did several searches but now I can't find it.....

[Odyssey-x]

In other news, Greenlanders, Russians and some Canadians are eagerly anticipating the climate change.

[JZoback]

Kyoto climate treaty that would have cut emissions............Even if the world reduced emissions by the maximum possible, it would only give a few years reprieve, says the Met Office.

Well, that's really good news.

We can now stop all this nonsense of pretending the Kyoto treaty will work.

Dump the treaty in the recycle bin and let us await our doom.

Until then just pretend like nothing is wrong.

[gitmo]

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.

You're correct. Except that global warming isn't a lie. We are in a period of global warming, coming out of an ice age.

[JZoback]

bump.

[gitmo]

Could you supply dates for those quotations? I recognize some as coming from the 70's. They would be more impressive if we knew how long ago the world was supposed to have collapsed.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

You are correct. Why, I just did an extrapolation on a spare POST-IT note on my desk, and my calculations show the Earth covered in ice to an average depth of 1,000 meters by 2010. The only ice-free ports will be in Hawaii and Samoa. I think we need to get on this quickly- start raising money now for billions of portable hairdryers and space-heaters to melt this stuff! (And extension cords- don't forget the extension cords!)

[SamAdams76]

There used to be hundreds of feet of ice covering the land where my house sits today (New England). Thank God for global warming.

[gitmo]

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

Or better yet, the stock market!