Global warming devastates sea ice in Arctic Circle
The Independent is saying Global warming devastates sea ice in Arctic Circle.
Sea ice in the Arctic last month melted to its second lowest monthly minimum in the 29-year record of satellite measurements.
“At this rate, the Arctic Ocean will have no ice in September by the year 2060,” said Julienne Strove, one of the NSIDC’s [US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado] research scientists.
Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the NSIDC, said this summer could easily have surpassed last year’s record loss if it had not been for the change in the weather.
“If fairly cool and stormy conditions hadn’t appeared in August, slowing the rate of summer ice loss, I feel certain that 2006 would have surpassed last year’s record low for September sea ice,” Dr Serreze said.
“August broke the Arctic heatwave and slowed the melt, and storm conditions led to wind patterns that tend to spread the existing ice over a larger area.”
Scientists fear that as more and more sea ice is lost, a “positive feedback” will kick in, with the Arctic Ocean absorbing more sunlight, which will in turn cause the loss of more sea ice.
“I’m not terribly optimistic about the future of the ice,” Dr Serreze said.
Our planet has a fever. If we don’t cool it down pronto it will die. Raise your own body temperature by a few degrees and see how long you last. The melting poles are not so much canaries in cages, those canaries died years ago. When the poles go, so do we. The time to take direct action is now. — DS
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