North Pole Could be Ice-Free This Summer

This is like something out of a bad science fiction movie.

I'm glad the cap and trade bill got hung up in the senate this year. We wouldn't want to have to pay a few extra bucks a week to fill up our SUVs.

Quote :

North Pole Could be Ice-Free This Summer
By Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor
posted: 26 June 2008 10:34 pm ET

Arctic sea ice could break apart completely at the North Pole this year, allowing ships to sail over the normally frozen top of the world.

The potential landmark thaw — the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free — is a stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web site of the The Independent, a London newspaper.

"Symbolically it is hugely important," said Mark Serreze of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. "There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water."

Last year, the fabled Northwest Passage opened as Arctic ice retreated more than ever before.

There is no land at the North Pole, but as long as anyone has looked, it has remained a giant block of ice year-round. Scientists have been watching Arctic sea ice melt more and more each year. But each summer in recent years, the amount of ice has gotten thinner and thinner. Each winter's freeze, therefore, results in a thinner pack that, this summer, could melt altogether.

"The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice," Serreze is quoted by The Independent. "I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out."

Russia and other countries, meanwhile, have been arguing over who has rights to the region's resources, including potential oil reserves.

Several studies in recent years have predicted that the North Pole could be ice-free within a few decades. Alarm has ratcheted up every summer as the ice gets thinner and thinner. In a study released June 10, scientist said the rapid meltoff in the Arctic could threaten permafrost in continental soil elsewhere above the Arctic circle in a warm version of the snowball effect.

Last summer saw a record melt of Arctic sea ice, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its average. Around the peak of the melt, in September, air temperatures over land in the western Arctic from August to October were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the 1978-2006 average.



"The rapid loss of sea ice can trigger widespread changes that would be felt across the region," said Andrew Slater, also of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/080626-north-pole.html

Yes, I guess we've explored the issue of climate change many times 'round these boards.

And responses have ranged from the scoffers who think it's much ado about nothing to doomsayers who think we are doomed to catastrophic and cataclysmic changes.

Where exactly the truth lies on this continuum will be fascinating to find out, as Spock would say.

That is very good news! Mankind has survived through the Ice Age!

In the beginning it was very cold and Man almost became extinct. Life was a very hard struggle because Man wasn't made for the ice. The ice started to melt. Life became easier. Man began to farm and build great civilizations which created new struggles and challenges. These civilizations clashed and caused great wars. Man even made great fire with the power to destroy all life but man survived. Man with all his weaknesses saw the day that his ancestors waited for. He saw the ice melt and celebrated. He said to himself,"If I can survive the Ice Age then I can survive anything!"

There were those that didn't celebrate though. They became dependent on the ice and were saddened when it melted. They feared change and progress. They feared evolution. They tried to prevent change. They blamed Man for the melting of the ice. They said that progress is destroying the Earth. They said that Man wasn't meant to evolve and that the Gods will destroy us for eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. They wanted Man to return to his natural state. They wanted Man to live like the beasts of the field.

As the years went by in the new tropical age they began to lose their fear of change. They began to understand why everyone was celebrating the melting of the ice. They began to understand that nature is full of change and Man progresses with the change. They began to understand that Man has evolved the ability to adapt to whatever nature gives him and that Man has a destiny to survive through all the ages no matter what challenges he faces.