Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change By Steve Connor, Science Editor Friday, 27 June 2008 It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer. "From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado. If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above. Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally icefreeNorth Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by hugeswathes of thinner ice formed over a single year. This one-year ice is highly vulnerable to melting during thesummer months and satellite data coming in over recent weeksshows that the rate of melting is faster than last year, when therewas an all-time record loss of summer sea ice at the Arctic. "The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the NorthPole is covered with extensive first-year ice – ice that formed last autumn and winter. I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out," said Dr Serreze. Each summer the sea ice melts before reforming again during the long Arctic winter but the loss of sea ice last year was so extensive that much of the Arctic Ocean became open water, with the water-ice boundary coming just 700 miles away from the North Pole. This meant that about 70 per cent of the sea ice present this spring was single-year ice formed over last winter. Scientists predict that at least 70 per cent of this single-year ice – and perhaps all of it – will melt completely this summer, Dr Serreze said. "Indeed, for the Arctic as a whole, the melt season startedwith even more thin ice than in 2007, hence concerns that we may even beat last year's sea-ice minimum. We'll see what happens, a great deal depends on the weather patterns in July and August," he said. Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. "There's a good chance that it will all melt awayat the North Pole, it's certainly feasible, but it's not guaranteed," Dr Lindsay said. The polar regions are experiencing the most dramatic increase in average temperatures due to global warming and scientists fear that as more sea ice is lost, the darker, open ocean will absorb more heat and raise local temperatures even further. Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, who was one of the first civilian scientists to sail underneath the Arctic sea ice in a Royal Navy submarine, said that the conditions are ripe for an unprecedented melting of the ice at the North Pole. "Last year we saw huge areas of the ocean open up, which hasnever been experienced before. People are expecting this to continuethis year and it is likely to extend over the North Pole. It is quite likely that the North Pole will be exposed this summer – it's not happened before," Professor Wadhams said. There are other indications that the Arctic sea ice is showingsigns of breaking up. Scientists at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre said that the North Water 'polynya' – an expanse of open water surrounded on all sides by ice – that normally forms near Alaska and Banks Island off the Canadian coast, is muchlarger than normal. Polynyas absorb heat from the sun and eat away at the edge of the sea ice. Inuit natives living near Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland are also reporting thatthe sea ice there is starting to break up much earlier than normal and that they have seen wide cracks appearing in the ice where it normally remains stable. Satellite measurements collected over nearly 30 years show a significant decline in the extent of the Arctic sea ice, which has become more rapid in recent years. http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...xclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html The effects of global warming becoming clearer...kind of a strange thought...the North Pole having no ice. What will we tell our kids about Santa when they hear of this? But on a serious note, this is a horrible threshold to cross.
We're all aware that ice has been melting off the face of the planet for thousands of years right?? And that it's happened before, long before we were here...only to be followed up by more ice. Right??? i'm not saying there isn't more to this. but...what i just posted is correct, right?
I thought that when the ice melted off the North Pole that those of us in coastal cities would have water in our front yard.
Nah, because the north pole ice is floating ice, so it has already displaced the max amount of water it was going to. It's when the ice on land melts that you get your new waterfront property. The earth works in natural cycles, and like any system, it will eventually self-correct for any changes we may be causing. The only question will be how severe the swing will be as it does so.
So, more and more people think that global warming doesn't exist? I'm not saying I do or don't but I thought the majority was under the assumption that it was actually happening.
I don't think anyone is denying global warming. They argue about what is causing it. Whether it's part of a natural cycle or something created or exacerbated by man.
Are you being serious? GW denialists pull out every single argument no matter how inconsistent it is, which range from denying that it's happening at all to attempting to minimize the human impact, to pointing out that since Al Gore has a big house, GW must be fake.
Oh. I guess I just haven't heard anyone actually deny it's happening...only what its cause is. I've heard people say temps have actually cooled over the last decade, and talk about the correlation to solar activity.
I personally believe it's a combination. It something that happens naturally, as science has told us but man is sort of speeding up the process.
Yeah, from the disclaimer I can pretty much tell which way this thing is going to go.....I would call it cleverly disguised - but that would impute a degree of cleverness which is not manifest.
True but what is worrisome is the pace of the change and the fact that the last time we had so much melting we didn't have as many cities on the coast. Our civilization has developed in a fairly narrow temperature range and major swings either way will be disastrous.
