Stunning Satellite Image Of Collapsing Arctic Sea Ice Pack - MSNBC

[hatrack]

Note: They've superimposted the UK to give scale.

PARIS - A warm summer and late storms in the past few months briefly opened a channel in the Arctic ice big enough to allow a ship to sail to the North Pole, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The agency said satellite images showed “dramatic openings” over an area bigger than the British Isles in the Arctic’s sea ice, which normally stays frozen all year.

“This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low ice seasons,” Mark Drinkwater of ESA’s Oceans/Ice Unit said in a statement.

Late-summer storms had fragmented between 5 and 10 percent of the Arctic’s perennial sea ice after it survived the summer melt season, ESA said. The agency’s satellite images were taken between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25.

“It is highly imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or northern Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole without difficulty,” Drinkwater added. Spitzbergen is a Norwegian island in the Arctic Ocean.

EDIT

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14924575/

[lonestarnot]

1. Too much!

[hatrack]

2. I have never - EVER - seen anything like this

And, according to the article, neither have the scientists.

[lonestarnot]

4. Scaring the daylights out of me.

[phantom power]

3. makes ya wonder what we will see next August.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. Water, water, everywhere...

...with the occasional dead polar bear floating in it.

[phantom power]

9. *sigh*

[intaglio]

5. According to a spokesman for Texashamoco ...

"This image indicates how far the commie, pinko, liberal, athiest global warming scaremongers will go to convince a few poor souls of the reality of their scientifically dubious theories"

According to the President, "These scientists are giving succor to terrorists. Because if this I have asked the CIA to interrogate them and am confident that these so-called experts will soon be singing along with us ... if y'know what I mean, heh heh heh,"

[hatrack]

6. BWAHAHHAHHAH!!!!

Thank, intaglio - I needed that.

:toast:

[lonestarnot]

11. Physical evidence means just another thing to shove under the bath matte.

[hatrack]

8. Shameless self-kick

nt

[nam78_two]

19. This kind of stuff needs to be posted in GD too

Many people don't read all the different forums. My biggest issues are environmental, but I post them in GD instead of environment/energy.
I figure the people hanging out there already realise how important this stuff is ;)!

[htuttle]

10. It's been reminding me of when one of our lakes thaws around here

...at least back when they used to freeze all winter regularly. There are structural issues involved when ice melts, apart from the temperature effect alone. Ice forms quickest on (or adjacent to) existing ice. When there isn't any, it takes much longer (and colder) to freeze into a 'skin' over the water.

[alfredo]

15. Up until the early 80's I could go out and cross country ski in

Jan and Feb. Now we are lucky to have one good hard freeze. If I wanted to be in shape for the spring cycling races, I had to go out and train on snow covered roads. Now the roads are clear year round.

I remember when I carried mail There would be times where I would have to heave my satchel over snow drifts and then crawl over the drifts to reach the houses. Now all the carriers have to contend with are occasional snow squalls and maybe an ice storm. Same thing when I was a rural carrier. Snow drifts would hide the mail boxes. Some roads were impassable, not just by the volume of snow but the accordion like terrain in parts of the Bluegrass region. 10 to 20 below temps were not uncommon.

We are not getting the extreme high temps one would expect, its seems the winters are milder. Now the threat of tornadoes and thunderstorms are year round.

I live in central Ky.

[file83]

12. Sorry, but I just couldn't resist:

Bad movie, but it looks like the north pole will become a "Waterworld" of sorts.

[central scrutinizer]

13. Bushco completes the Lewis and Clark expedition!!!

Those losers couldn't find an all water route to the Pacific, but our glorious god-anointed leader has done it. Take that all of you eco-whiners.

[emmadoggy]

14. Scary and sad.

The clock is ticking more and more loudly. :scared:

[tbolt]

16. Melting ice caps

I live in N.C. I guess my trips to the beach will soon be shorter. Very scary an also very sad. Big oil would not have it any other way.

[nam78_two]

17. Environmental news rarely makes it to the front page so I am glad this did

Seriously, environmntal destruction IS the biggest story of the day. It affects every living thing on this planet. We are engaging in trans-generational tyranny here.

That is what this is...tras-generational tyranny not to mention eco-cide.

[nam78_two]

18. only 11 recomendations for something that could change life on this planet

for ever, kill millions and millions of people, cause species extinction on a scale unimaginable......

But every thread about Chavez-hate or love-gets 50+ recommendations? What am I not getting here :shrug:? Changing our lifestyles won't hinge just on leaders ultimately...changing leadership can do only so much at this point. We all have to be willing to make large-scale personal sacrifice if we want to save this planet which is our only home.

God I wish Gore was president right now. I do hope the next leader is someone who takes environmental science seriously....
We are all FUCKED if not :(.

[lonestarnot]

22. Sad but true re recs., and yes, we are fucked.

[Divernan]

20. Thanks yet again Hatrack - you're the enviro conscience of DU

Glad to see one of your posts finally made the front page.

[Danger Mouse]

21. The good news is that the world...

won't be destroyed by Bush.
The bad news is that there won't be a world left for bush to destroy...