Arctic Summer Sea Ice May Now Be Gone By 2020 - 30 Years Ahead Of Worst-Case Predictions - RTE

[hatrack]

New statistics from research by two US agencies surveying the Arctic claim that polar ice is melting three times faster than had been thought.

The US Snow and Ice Data Centre and its Center for Atmospheric Research have now concluded that sea ice has shrunk to a record low.

They say that by 2020 there may no longer be summer ice in the Arctic - a full three decades earlier than predicted.

EDIT

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0825/arctic.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Holy Double CRAP....and the Band played on.....

[Emillereid]

2. This is what Lovelock has been saying.

[lovuian]

3. All their models were not accurate and they say 2020 but

that probably is too late...

Mother Earth is going to take care of all this

over use...one way or the other

[Theduckno2]

4. Were these US government agencies? If so, how did this get by Bushco?

Living here in Southwest Michigan I have experienced lake-effect snow first hand.

For those that are unaware of the phenomena, let me give a simple explanation. When frigid winds blow across the warmer waters of Lake Michigan they pick up moisture from the lake and subsequently deposit it in the form of snow (sometimes rain), in areas usually near the shoreline.

The reason I mention this is that as the lake freezes over in the winter, lake effect snow become less frequent and significant. What we have in the Arctic is just the opposite, areas that would normally be covered in ice, will then be open water and that will in of itself will change climate of the Arctic regions.

[hatrack]

5. National Snow & Ice Data Center, which is a division of NOAA . . .

And the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is hosted by UC Boulder - agencies in question.

[YankeyMCC]

6. K & R

for attention it deserves...sorry but this is a bit more up the priority or 'worry' scale for me than gonzo (as important as that is)

[kestrel91316]

7. kestrel's prediction: 2012 - within five years.

acceleration, folks.

[Melissa G]

8. yep...n/t

[XemaSab]

9. Word.

The missing factor in most of the technical discussions I've seen (including an excellent post today by that perennial friend of the poles, Hatrack) is that first year ice is weaker than multi-year ice. First year ice still contains brine, and it isn't as dense overall as older ice.

Why do we care?

Well, next year even if the sea totally freezes over again (which it probably will) if the same melty-factors are in place, the weak ice pack will just disintigrate.

Good times. :popcorn:

I wager 2010 it'll be virtually gone. :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: