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| Subject: Arctic sea ice has melted to a new record low, with at least a month left to the melting season | |
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Author: jw |
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Date Posted: 20:36:57 08/09/07 Thu In reply to: jw 's message, "Arctic warming, arctic war" on 20:41:31 08/01/07 Wed This article appeared on the university of illinois website that shows daily arctic sea ice coverage and anomoly. http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/ Thursday, August 9, 2007 - New historic sea ice minimum Today, the Northern Hemisphere sea ice area broke the record for the lowest recorded ice area in recorded history. The new record came a full month before the historic summer minimum typically occurs. There is still a month or more of melt likely this year. It is therefore almost certain that the previous 2005 record will be annihilated by the final 2007 annual minima closer to the end of this summer. In previous record sea ice minima years, ice area anomalies were confined to certain sectors (N. Atlantic, Beaufort/Bering Sea, etc). The character of 2007's sea ice melt is unique in that it is dramatic and covers the entire Arctic sector. Atlantic, Pacific and even the central Arctic sectors are showing large negative sea ice area anomalies. While we use sea ice concentration data supplied by NASA via the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), there are some differencesbetween the way we and NSIDC process our sea ice indices. NSIDC uses 10-day running means; we use 3-day running means. NSIDC will o ften report sea ice extent indices and records, we are reporting a new sea ice minima sea ice area. The ice area metric includes year-to-year variations within the central pack ice and not just variations in the southern sea ice edge. Regardless of these differences, the rapid rate of sea ice melt this summer, along with the current negative sea ice anomalies almost guarantees a record Northern Hemisphere summer sea ice minimum this summer, by any metric. This website clearly shows how the open waters of the arctic are rapidly warmed by summer sun that the ice used to reflect into space. The map shows sea temperature anomolies, wherever the formerly permenent ice cap is now open water, the temperatures rapidly rise 5 - 10 degrees above normal, which is probably freezing. This warming makes the refreeze take longer in winter, which allows a quicker spring melt, further accelerating the cycle of arctic meltdown and global warming. http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/climo.html The loss of artic sea ice is so great this year, they are likely to push up the prediction for the complete melting of the artic ice cap from the current 2040 - 2050, it is beginning to look like the forecast models that show the complete meltdown in 10 years may be correct, this is a global catastrophe in our time. First, the good news. China has no arctic coast, >and therefore no claim to arctic waters. Also, being >that bush is a global warming denier, he doesn't seem >to be too concerned about fighting for economic rights >for america in the arctic ocean as the ice cap melts. > > Now for the bad news, big business and the >governments that serve them seem to be most concerned >about drilling for oil in a liquid arctic, not what >happens to the other 6 billion of us who will face the >greatest natural catastrophe in at least a million >years when the ice cap melts. Those who are running >our civilization seem to think we will still treasure >oil pollution and the great progress of capitalism >when the modern climate collapses because of our >economy's pollution. Our leaders are fighting for >barrels of oil in a searing hot desert or an infested >swamp, this is becoming like the "mad max beyond >thunderdome" movies, but in real life global warming >replaces nuclear war. > > If the arctic ice cap melts, the oil will either be >inaccessable or useless. If the climate only warms a >few degrees world wide, there will likely still be >winter sea ice, which will be smashed into oil >platforms with incredible force from winter storms. >If positive climate feedback and additional pollution >from our economy make the arctic ice free in winter >also, it means a sub-tropical arctic ocean, most of >the world will become to hot to fast, and face total >catastrophe, we will have no use for oil or fast >shipping from china. The last time we had a warming >of this magnitude was 55 million years ago during the >pleocene-eocene thermal maximum, which took 1,000 >years and caused the most massive extinction since the >end of the dinasaurs, this global warming will happen >in 100 years or less. The arctic oil will be >incredibally expensive, as it is 2 miles or more deep, >and very remote, this is not the gulf of mexico. Our >leaders are chasing after fool's black gold. > > >_______________________________________________________ > >Coast Guard's tasks grow with Arctic traffic >Updated 2d 1h ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | >Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | > > > >By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY >WASHINGTON — When the commander of the U.S. Coast >Guard thinks of future trouble spots, his focus is >increasingly to the north — the vast waters around a >melting polar ice cap. >Once almost totally inaccessible to shipping and oil >drilling, the region poses new opportunities for >economic activity, as well as new challenges for those >who patrol its frigid seas. > >"If you go into a life raft 20 miles off the coast of >North Carolina, chances are you are going to see the >Coast Guard in a few hours," Adm. Thad Allen says. "If >you go into life rafts at the edge of the Arctic ice >cap, there are questions about when you should expect >help to arrive." > >The Arctic is still relatively empty but stands to >become more crowded in coming years as several >countries stake their claim to its rich oil and gas >reserves. The increased maritime traffic has made the >Arctic a more significant focus for the Coast Guard in >the past six months, Allen says. > >"We're like the cop on the beat up there," he says. >That beat is massive — about half of the USA's 90,000 >total miles of coastline is in Alaska. > >FIND MORE STORIES IN: Coast Guard | Allen | Arctic | >Coast Guard cutter >The Guard is responsible for policing maritime >traffic, chasing off foreign fishermen that cross into >U.S. waters, pursuing drug traffickers, rescuing >seamen in distress, protecting indigenous people and >responding to oil spills and other environmental >accidents. The Coast Guard cutter Healy, one of three >Guard icebreakers, transports scientists into the >Arctic in the summer for research on global warming >and its repercussions. > >Ice in the Arctic sea has decreased by nearly 20% over >the past two decades, and "it would not be beyond the >realm of possibility to have an ice-free route across >the top of Russia sometime in the next five or 10 >years," Allen says. > >Such a route would shave up to 5,000 miles — a week's >sailing time — off the journey between the North >Atlantic and the North Pacific, he says, attracting >ships that otherwise would have transited the Panama >or Suez canals. Allen says there has also been heavier >traffic in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. >He says it could become an international waterway >similar to the English Channel or the Straits of >Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia. > >The reduction in ice sparks competing claims among the >eight nations that border the Arctic: the United >States, Russia, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, >Finland and Denmark (which controls Greenland). > >Russia claims 460,000 square miles of the Arctic as an >extension of its continental shelf under a 1982 treaty >that set guidelines for dividing undersea resources. > >On July 9, Canada announced plans to build up to eight >icebreakers and to establish a deep water port in its >far north. Douglas Bancroft, director of the Canadian >Ice Service, told a conference in Washington this >month that Hudson Bay has seen a 50% decrease in ice >since 1971. > >"Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our >sovereignty over the Arctic," Prime Minister Stephen >Harper said. "We can either use it or lose it. And >make no mistake, this government intends to use it." > >John Bellinger, the State Department's top lawyer, >says the United States could submit a claim to seabed >up to 600 miles off the coast of Alaska. First, he >says, the Senate has to ratify the treaty, which >created a commission for establishing such claims. The >United States doesn't have a seat on the commission. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Re: Bush is to busy selling off America | L. | 21:32:06 08/22/07 Wed |
| Re: Bush is to busy selling off America | jw | 19:40:01 08/23/07 Thu |
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| Re: Bush is to busy selling off America | jw | 19:58:11 08/23/07 Thu |