Ice-Free Arctic Is “Uncharted Territory”

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/21-1



UXBRIDGE, Canada - The melt of Arctic sea ice has reached its lowest point this year, shrinking 18 percent from last year’s near-record low.

Summer ice this year is half what it was 30 years ago and is now affecting weather patterns. The massive declines in ice in recent summers have shocked scientists and Arctic experts. Some predict that in just a few years we will witness an event that hasn’t happened in millions of years: the complete loss of summer ice.

“We are now in uncharted territory,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado.

“Few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur” as a result of the burning fossil fuels that are warming the planet, said Serreze.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Cheer up, it could be worse. At least we don't have global warming.

[GliderGuider]

3. "Cheer up," he said, "things could be worse."

So I cheered up - and sure enough, things got worse.

[Nihil]

4. I tried to drown my troubles ...

... but the bastards learned how to swim ...

[madrchsod]

2. climate change is already here....

the drought in the land between the mountains in america is going to be more common in the future.

the 100 acre bean field across the street has beans from half to a quarter size as last years crop. the corn fields are just as bad. this winter`s snow fall will be watched very closely by the future markets.

[AverageJoe90]

5. Possibly so, indeed.

We may still get lucky and not have a total melt-off for another decade plus or so, though. But we could also see it go by 2016, maybe even 2015 under the worst plausible circumstances. Sadly, I'm just not that optimistic; I think the latter is significantly more likely than say, 2030 or so.