North Pole Ice Set To Melt By Summer 2020
Sky News 2009
The frozen Arctic Ocean will become an open sea during the summer within a decade, according to the latest data.
Climate change experts predict a massive melt which will see the ice cover completely disappear throughout the warmer months.
British polar explorer Pen Hadow led an expedition to collect the data behind the alarming prediction.
He told Sky News, "We were able to reach the areas the scientists can't get to. Our findings are depressing.
"In just ten years or so 80-85 per cent of the Arctic Ocean will be ice free, and within twenty years we'll have completely lost the summer ice."
Hadow and the rest of the Catlin Arctic Survey team faced temperatures of down to minus 45C, and even had to swim part of the 450km journey.
Using giant drills they measured the depth and age of the Arctic ice.
Their results, the most recent gathered from the North Pole, show how the region is gradually disappearing.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have been analysing their data say it is "invaluable evidence".
Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Physics Group said: "Up until now we've always thought of the Arctic Ocean as a white lid on top of the planet.
"But now that lid is being lifted and replaced with an open ocean which changes everything, it really is bad news."
As the ice disappears so too does its wildlife, from polar bears to walrus and seals.
Moreover, the Arctic sea ice has been described as earth's refrigerator, and as it melts, it is expected to have a major impact on the world climate.
Campaigners are taking this latest research to the Copenhagen climate conference in December in hope that the evidence will convince world leaders to take action in cutting carbon emissions.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said the findings set out the "stark realities of a rapidly changing climate" and "illustrated the risk of an ice free summer in the Arctic in the not-too-distant future".
"This further strengthens the case for an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen in December which the UK is fully committed to achieving," he said.
Dr Martin Sommerkorn, from the WWF International Arctic Programme, warned there was "no time to lose".
"Countries must see these results and think there is no alternative we must deal with the problem and make investments. Humankind and our way of life is at stake," he warned.
Link here>>
North Pole Ice Set To Melt By Summer 2020 - Yahoo! News UK
Naluoy ko sa dagway sa polar bear
UPDATE!
~Though this is in Australia, I think it's worth mentioning.
Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand: official
AFP
Mon Nov 23, 2:09 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.
An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.
Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs -- some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across -- were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more.
He said they were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.
"All of these have come from a larger one that was probably 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) in size when it left Antarctica," Young told AFP. "It's done a long circuit around Antarctica and now the bigger parts of it are breaking up and producing smaller ones."
He said large numbers of icebergs had not floated this close to New Zealand since 2006, when a number came within 25 kilometres of the coastline -- the first such sighting since 1931.
"They're following the same tracks now up towards New Zealand. Whether they make it up to the South Island or not is difficult to tell," Young said.
New Zealand has already issued coastal navigation warnings for the area in the Southern Ocean where the icebergs have been seen.
"It's really just a general warning for shipping in that area to be on the alert for icebergs," said Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson.
The icebergs are smaller remnants of the giant chunks seen off Australia's Macquarie Island this month, including one estimated at two kilometres (1.2 miles) and another twice the size of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium.
Young earlier told AFP he expected to see more icebergs in the area if the Earth's temperature continues to increase. "If the current trends in global warming were to continue I would anticipate seeing more icebergs and the large ice shelves breaking up," he said.
When icebergs last neared New Zealand in 2006, a sheep was helicoptered out to be shorn on one of the floes in a publicity stunt by the country's wool industry.
No more ICE in the NORTHPOLE by 2020! ? UPDATE: ICEBERGS FOUND FLOATING IN SYDNEY
Originally Posted by reptoid
I hope most istoryans....![[PROTOTYPE]'s Avatar](customavatars/avatar83175_3.gif "[PROTOTYPE]'s Avatar")
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