Ice loss 'opens Northwest Passage'

[subsuelo]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Warming in the Arctic has reduced sea ice to its lowest recorded level, opening up the Northwest Passage, a long-sought shortcut between Europe and Asia, according to new satellite images.

The aerial images released by the European Space Agency shows ice at its lowest level since measurements began 30 years ago -- an "extreme" drop, experts say.

"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million square kilometers, which is about 1 million less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006," Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Center said on ESA's Web site.

"There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100,000 square kilometers per year on average, so a drop of 1 million in just one year is extreme."

Ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has long been held as an early warning of a changing climate.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/15/arctic.nwestpssg/

[intaglio]

1. Also posted

on this forum http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1813069&mesg_id=1813069

[trusty elf]

2. We're doomed

[tanyev]

3. See? Global warming is good for the planet.

:sarcasm:

[onehandle]

4. Cool! When's the first cruise?

When is that full size replica of the Titanic going to be ready?

Load it up with polluting industrialists and Hummer owners and send them on it's maiden voyage.

Then get the captain drunk.

Problem solved!