North Pole Could Be Ice Free in 2008

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

You know when climate change is biting hard when instead of a vast expanse of snow the North Pole is a vast expanse of water. This year, for the first time, Arctic scientists are preparing for that possibility.

"The set-up for this summer is disturbing," says Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). A number of factors have this year led to most of the Arctic ice being thin and vulnerable as it enters its summer melting season.

In September 2007, Arctic sea ice reached a record low, opening up the fabled North-West passage that runs from Greenland to Alaska.

The ice expanded again over the winter and in March 2008 covered a greater area than it had in March 2007. Although this was billed as good news in many media sources, the trend since 1978 is on the decline.

...

Despite its news value in the media, the North Pole being ice free is not in itself significant. To scientists, Serreze points out, "this is just another point on the globe". What is worrying, though, is the fact that multi-year ice – the stuff that doesn't melt in the summer – is not piling up as fast as Arctic ice generally is melting.

On average each year about half of the first year ice, formed between September and March, melts during the following summer. In 2007, nearly all of it disappeared.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4728737&page=1

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Congratulations, Frat Boy

Mission accomplished.

[roguevalley]

38. Oh fuck. I live here. I am not opening anymore environmental stuff

anymore.

[truedelphi]

52. Here's a thought - today was one very gorgeous late spring day in CA

The weather was sunny with only a whisp or two of clouds.

Still some sparkle in the air from the winter rains.

No major earthquakes today.

Children were giggling on their bikes and their skateboards while politely dodging their elders at the shopping mall.

My next door neighbor - who almost got caught red-handed spraying MY PROPERTY last week - he smiled at me and Mark when we left the house he AND DID NOT come over and spray while we were gone.

The birds are enthused about their new babies, the horses were having fun chasing the cows out of their part of the pasture, while "God's in his heaven - all's right with the world."

I'm usually an agonostic but today was just pretty enough that I can almost believe!

[truthisfreedom]

2. Crazy.

[lapfog_1]

3. Whatever will they do will all those little flags and markers and such...

:sarcasm:

I think there is a webcam there that will need a float and an anchor chain.

[Uncle Joe]

50. Put them on buoys, but all those parents will have to make up

new stories to tell their children about where Santa Claus lives because Exxon, et al didn't give a damn.

[Misskittycat]

4. What will Santa do? That's the key question.

[jeff30997]

6. Buy a Speedo ?

:scared:

[CubicleGuy]

23. As the Bible says...

The foolish man built his house upon the ice.


Or something like that.

[natrat]

5. i will always remember that great american,ronald raygun,stressing the need for no action

on warming and more research---land of the stupid

[autorank]

7. K*R - but sabra, you're distracting from the soap opera presidential race

Show some respect for the distractions used by the perpetrators of the eco catastrophes facing us.

This should have 1000 recs!

[Hubert Flottz]

9. The grinch and his oily repiggy friends won't be happy until it's gone...

Newtered Gin&tonic-grinch.

Billy O'...I feel your pain about the GOPer induced "Christmas Past."

[kestrel91316]

31. They won't be happy until Greenland and Antarctica have

completely melted, too.

There's plenty of resources there just waiting to be exploited.

[BearSquirrel2]

44. You want a war ???

Ohhh, wait till the Danes and the Canadians get into a fight over Greenland!!!!

[nam78_two]

33. Heh-sad but true.nt

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Little Billy O'Really will be devastated because...

The Elves will be extinct and SAnta will soon be out of a job too! Maybe a substandard Santa from North India can save Christmas for Little Billy Bad@$$.

[bdamomma]

10. and to think some people are worried about flag pins!!!

[Jennicut]

11. And don't forget to mention that Climate Change is low on the list of people's worries

As if we will be able to worry about the economy, the war, and healthcare if climate change messes up our entire world. We will be begging to worry about those things in 30, 40, 50, years from now. Instead we will worry about droughts and extreme weather and refugees.

[lunatica]

12. Those refugees will include us

Climate change won't spare the good old USA even in spite of having Bush, Pat Robertson and any number of superduper evangelical special friends of God's here. Even the ultra rich will eventually feel it in a very personal way.

[defendandprotect]

59. ...mainly because ExxonMobil spent tens of millions on 30 years of propaganda and buying

scientists and government legislators to keep their lies going ---

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. Only a year ago, the prediction was for 2040. Now it is 2008, this year?

Good thing global warming is a myth. :sarcasm:

[shellgame26]

14. Jesus H Christ

We're fucked!

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. BIG TIME!

x(

[femrap]

25. And so few are

prepared...not to mention those that are in complete denial. Ain't gonna be pretty.

:scared:

[kestrel91316]

32. You're only now noticing?

[LiberalFighter]

15. Cover the North Pole with a blanket of white tarp to reduce the Sun's rays.

[Iwasthere]

45. You aren't far off

I proposed a similar solution to Gore a few years ago when he sent out requests for fixes. Ice machines (thousands of them). Cover the affected areas with tens of feet of man made ice or snow repeatedly till it starts to pack. This would likely change the weather pattern just enough (a degree or two) to perhaps start the healing.

But I like your idea better (ice blankets). No extra sea levels that way

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

16. Woo Hoo!! Beach Front Property!!!

I've missed the point something terrible, haven't I...

[TechBear_Seattle]

24. I've been saying for years: Buy property in Greenland

Once the glacier has finished melting, the land will be worth a bundle.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

26. And with rising ocean levels...

Pittsburgh will be ocean view...

[NCDem60]

36. Not only the point but...

the science as well. The Artic ice pack is already floating in the ocean so its melting will have no impact on sea levels. It will take the land based ice packs such as Greenland and much of Antarctica melting to raise sea levels.

[knight_of_the_star]

40. It won't affect sea levels

But it could affect the ocean currents that keep Europe from looking a lot like Russia.

[hatrack]

17. North Pole Could Be Ice-Free In 2008 - Why Jeremiah Wright Is To Blame!!!

Coming up next - how liberal terrorist sharks attack freedom-loving Americans and want Barack Obama to win!!!!

[happygoluckytoyou]

18. HAVE NO FEAR....DUBYA-MAN IS HERE!!!!

SWOOPING DOWN FROM HIS CASTLE HIGH, DUBYA-MAN, THE DECIDER, THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIMP, AND HIS TRUSTY LACKY JOHN "THE REPUBLICAN" MCCAIN, ARE ON TOP OF THIS.
"GOOD THING KATRINA HAPPENED, GAVE US PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE TO HANDLE THIS SORT OF FLOODING, PEOPLE DYING, EMERGENCY THING" SCREAMS DUBYA-MAN.
"YES, BUT IT'S NOT MY BIRTHDAY-- NO CAKE, AND EAT IT TOO." CRIES JOHN "THE REPUBLICAN" MCCAIN.
"NO CAKE PERHAPS," QUIPS THE INVENTOR OF THE BUSHISM, "BUT MAYBE WE COULD GET A BROWNIE HERE TO HELP US. HEH HEH HEH. I SAID BROWNIE. HEH HEH. HECK OF A JOB BORWNIE".
"BUT IF THE GLOBAL WARMING CONTINUES, HOW WILL I GET MY TURN TO BE PRESIDENT?" JOHN the republican MCCAIN CRIES, "I WAITED, I HUGGED YOU, I FLIP-FLOPPED, I FED THE MEDIA BBQ, I SUCKED--"
"STOP YOUR WHINING, THATS WHY YOU LOST BACK IN 2000" DUBYA-MAN GIVES HIS SIDEKICK A MIGHTY HUG, A SMALL PECK ON THE CHEEK, MAYBE A BIT OF TONGUE. "JUST DO WHAT I DID TO YOU--- CLAIM THAT OBAMA HAS A BLACK BABY."
"BUT HE'S BLACK"
"SO MUCH EASIER... AND WE BOUGHT UP ALL THE MEDIA SO YOU'RE SAFE..... HEY OLD-GUY, YEEHAH, I JUST GAVE YOU A NICKNAME, HEY OLD-GUY... DID YOU HEAR THAT GLOBAL WARMING IS GOING TO KILL OVER 20 MILLION POOR PEOPLE... AND A PINK CAMEL!!!"
"A PINK CAMEL????"
"SEE OLD-GUY... I TOLD YOU NOBODY WOULD CARE ABOUT 20 MILLION POOR PEOPLE"

[ramapo]

19. This is no fun

Watching events unfold which demonstrate the radical changes our society have unleashed on our planet gives me a sick stomach.

[Auggie]

29. Well put

I feel the same way

[madrchsod]

20. meanwhile it is snowing in wisconsin

and northern illinois is under a freeze warning. nope, the climate is`t changing is it....

[old mark]

22. Maybe then...

...Con Agra could grow corn there for ethanol.


mark

[Wapsie B]

27. Time to get your ocean-front property in Des Moines. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

28. *I* know--mow down the forests of South America, drive peasant farmers (best food

producers) off the land with pesticide spraying and mass murder, topple their democratic governments to control the last oil reserves in the western hemisphere, then grow corn and soy BIOFUELS for north American cars, and make money off of that, too, while the P.R. department makes it sound "green." And get ready to terraform Mars.

-----

Chavez calls ethanol production 'crime'
April 26, 2008
Yahoo News
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3217154

[mdmc]

30. I hope Santa has a houseboat (North Pole may have ICE FREE summer in 2008)

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4728737&page=1

[nam78_two]

34. K&R.nt

[Felix Mala]

35. J. Goldberg declares in his column today there has been no warming since 1998...

Obviously a melting polar ice cap is commie propaganda!!!

[Shoelace]

37. Live from the North Pole (NOAA webcams): today's image

the one thing that might stop the Canadian seal hunt. No ice, no more seals to butcher among other goodies like sea level rise, and who knows what else.
Isostatic rebound dictates that some parts of the area could rise. We live in interesting times.

:wow:



http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html

and..

[hughee99]

39. Good news for the RW

My prediction... when it doesn't happen, the RW will cite this prediction (and any surrounding publicity it gets), as evidence that the "global warming wackos" don't know what they're talking about. Forget the fact that the study was done by a government organization, it won't matter to them.

[defendandprotect]

41. Scientists have actually been CONSERVATIVE in their estimations of the destruction . . .

And we ain't see nothin' yet . . . !!!

There is a 50 year delay in Global Warming --- which means we are only now feeling the effects of
our activites up to 1958 ...

Consider the yearly increases after that in our spewing CO2 into the environment . . . !!!

All in all, scientists have been CONSERVATIVE in their predictions ---
and no one can guess at how all of this will compound!!

[BearSquirrel2]

42. Panamanians are shitting their pants ...

The Panamanians have to be shitting their pants over this prospect. They are currently widening the canal at great cost. Why pay canal fees when you can go through the Northwest Passage for free?? And if your route is China-Europe, the route is even quicker!!!

[Xenotime]

43. I hope * is happy that this is happening.

[nam78_two]

46. kick.nt

[killbotfactory]

47. It's just a statistical anomoly

Nothing to do with human activities, I'm sure.

[mdmc]

57. no

[ohio2007]

48. So are they going to back peddle and hedge by claiming "magnetic north pole" ?

Still waiting for those 15 major hurricanes to crash the sea boards in 2006........2007..... ?


http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/387743.html

[NickB79]

53. So, to discount global warming, you post a story about a big snowstorm?

Repeat after me: weather is not climate, weather is not climate, weather is not climate.

If it still doesn't sink in, come over to the Environment Forum for an eye-opener.

[Nihil]

54. When you read a few more posts ...

... from certain people you will realise that you can't open the
eyes of someone wrapped in gaffa tape ... eyes & ears firmly closed
against anything that isn't spoonfed to them in between regurgitating
right-wing propaganda ...
Save your breath. :hi:

[defendandprotect]

61. That was one of Sen. Inhofe's sing-songs . . ."it's snowing in Buffalo" ...!!!

There was a big snow in Buffalo -- and it's traced to the lack of freezing of the Great Lakes.
When FROZEN the prevailing winds pass over the lakes and don't pick up moisture.
When NOT FROZEN as was the case here at that time, the prevailing winds picked up lots of
moisture as they pass over the lakes and they dumped all the mositure in the form of snow
on Buffalo.

Same in the Arctic --- as the melting begins, it excelerates because black water aborbs the sun,
where as the ice doesn't.

All of which I'm sure YOU know . . . but perhaps the snow poster may read???

[HughBeaumont]

63. Someone needs to tell the conservaturd columnist Kevin O'Brien at the Cleveland PD this . . .

He's always on about "Oh, Al Gore must be crying in his Wheaties . .. it's still SNOWING out! HA ha ha ha ha . . . ". Seriously, we're talking at least two to three columns on this EVERY winter, despite people telling him "uh, Ohio's bad winters don't mean the world's overall climate isn't changing, you boob. Evidence is irrefutable . . . Jesus it's like talking to a wall."

Indeed.

[Uncle Joe]

49. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, sabra.

[Reterr]

51. k&r.eom

[TaffyMoon]

55. And god knows what's under all that snow.

[MilesColtrane]

56. Goodbye seals, polar bears, and Santa...

:cry:

[defendandprotect]

58. Also, as I understand it, this new ice is not really like the old ice ---

it's like pulling down a redwood and planting a new one ---

[barnel]

60. so selling ice cubes to eskimos wont be super salesmanship anymore

like it used to be

[ohio2007]

62. Chile volcano blasts ash 20 miles high, forcing evacuations ( global cooling )

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080507/D90GHEFO0.html

[Nihil]

65. Two things for your consideration:

1) That's ash not snow in the photo.

2) If you'd actually *read* the article you linked to, you'd have seen this:

So far, Chaiten has emitted only a few thousand tons of sulfur dioxide,
"which is very small," said Simon Carn, a University of Maryland-Baltimore
volcanologist who uses satellites to measure volcanic gases.

In general, a volcano must spew at least 1 million tons of sulfur dioxide
into the stratosphere to have a global effect on climate, said Alan Robock,
a Rutgers University professor who co-authored a book on the subject.

In other words, you are being a typical climate change denier (again) ...
drive-by postings that are unsullied by intelligence ...

:eyes:

[Thor_MN]

64. Antarctic (and Greenland) is where the trouble will be

Melt that ice and it raises the oceans. As Mother Earth swivels her hips, a good portion of that water is going to go to her waist. Since the Pacific side has significantly more ocean (maybe more correct to say more land on Atlantic side) the weight distribution of the planet is going to change. That's going to put some wobble in her hula action. Consequences unknown and quite probably unknowable on a human lifescale, but the planet may be needing a new "North Star" sooner than we expected.

[Blue_Tires]

66. tragic...