Sweeping change reshapes Arctic

[gulfcoastliberal]

By Craig Welch

Seattle Times staff reporter

First of two parts

BARROW, Alaska — The hunter rose each day last summer from his bunk in a condemned wildlife lab, down the hall from where Inupiat villagers carve whale meat on a band saw.

snip

Ecological change is so scrambling Alaska's Arctic that the government has hired gunslingers to recapture some balance.

snip

Migrating whales, the backbone of Alaska's Inupiat culture, now arrive up to 45 days early, completely altering seasonal rhythms for Inupiat who harpoon them. Winter ice roads are collapsing months sooner than they did 35 years ago, prompting oil companies to ask the government to build highways across easily scarred tundra.

snip

The amount of ice covering the ocean in late summer has shrunk 15 to 20 percent in three decades, and 2005 was the worst year ever. That shrinking contributed to a rise of about 8 inches in sea level, helping erode the shorelines of coastal towns such as Barrow. These changes, scientists agree, can't simply be explained by weather fluctuations. In fact, ice melt is now coming faster than some computer models projected. And a thawing Arctic can actually speed up warming across the globe.

Lots more:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002714404_arctic01main.html

[dpbrown]

1. The time is here...

And the nutballs in charge are just pushing us over the cliff....

[Spinzonner]

2. Apparently the oil companies don't see the irony in

asking the government to build roads due to climatic warming which they denie exists.

[mom cat]

3. I believe that Bushco knows, believes and doesn't care

what happens to you and me, as long as he can milk ud dry on the way down.

[BlueJazz]

4. Most Repugs don't care. I've had, more than one, say: Why should I ...

...care?..I'll be dead before all the bad stuff happens.
Shows you what sorry-ass human beings they are...

[gulfcoastliberal]

5. I guess they don't care about the lives of the next generation(s)

So much for their culture of life.

[Gronk Groks]

6. The tipping point has been reached and passed...

...think of a glass filled with ice and water, sitting in sunlight on your picnic table. As long as the ice lasts in the glass, the temperature of the drink remain just above freezing. Once the ice has melted, the temperature of the drink increases amazingly quick.

The Arctic icepack is earth's ice cube in the world's ocean. If it disappears the ocean's temperature will start increasing dramatically. This will result in the Antarctica glaciers melting, you already can see it starting in the collapse of some of the Antarctica ice sheets.

At that point, ocean levels start rising fast. There is enough ice in Antarctica alone to raise the sea level by 10 METERS!!! Anybody in Florida who lives within 30 feet of sea level is going to lose their home.

The only question is when. While 50 years is decidedly too short a timeperiod, 150 years is probably to long. That is why shrub's administration doesn't care. It will happen on someone's else's watch....