Snows fail to fall in Arctic tundra

[DallasTim]

In recent years, snows have failed to fall as normal across large parts of the barren land dotted with low birch and pines.

Evidence that humans are pushing up global temperatures is growing ever stronger, ranging from a shrinking of ice in the Arctic to a warming of the Indian Ocean, many experts say.

A report by 250 experts late last year said that the Arctic was warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe. That could push polar bears towards extinction and leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summers by 2100.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/11/22/norway.warming.reut/index.html

[saddemocrat]

1. frightening...

thanks for the link!

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks for this article. Surely hope something can be done to help. Time

is running out so quickly.

We need a Democratic President now more than ever.

[tanyev]

3. Hello from Plano!

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Lochloosa]

41. LOL...my brother was arrested in Plano...

for drinking a beer as he was going to his hotel room. Spent three nights in the pokey without being allowed to make a phone call..

[chelsea0011]

4. NYT last week stated 20% of Arctic Circle has disappeared since 1972

[rodeodance]

5. reindeer,

Prakhova is more worried about what is happening now.

She said reindeer, traditionally herded by Sami people -- who live in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway -- were vulnerable when winter snows did not fall.

"Snow is cold for us but for reindeer it is a soft winter bed," said Prakhova, a Russian Sami. Lack of snow also makes it hard for reindeer to feed on lichen because the plants can get covered by sharp ice, which cuts their soft muzzles.

In September, polar ice contracted to its smallest size in at least a century, according to measurements by space agency NASA and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.

[SoCalDem]

34. and microbes awaken and bring diseases

that animals & plants of today may not have immunity to:(

[tatertop]

39. Pandora's Box is being opened right before our eyes

[tatertop]

38. Never would have thought of that.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. Uh oh

I would assume that among other problems, all the white animals are pretty much screwed if it doesn't snow?

[TX-RAT]

22. They may just stop turning white.

[Submariner]

7. The oil spills off ANWR will be easier to clean up with the ice gone

:sarcasm:

[alfredo]

14. Ships will be able to reach ANWR year round without that pesky

ice blocking the route.


Of course loss of the permafrost will cause buildings to sink unless they are anchored to the bedrock.

[uppityperson]

15. Nice display of the calving areas.

glaciers are continuing to recede

[texpatriot2004]

8. So glad there's no such thing as "global warming" - sarcasm on

that's not good and it's not natural

[TX-RAT]

11. Sure there is, it's happen several times.

Wasn't that long ago close to 50% of the US was under water.

[salinen]

9. This is propaganda

The effects of global warming are so far reaching that to comment about Polar Bears and ice-free oceans is totally misleading. It will effect:

- Bird migrations
- More powerful storms
- Risk to fresh water supplies
- Disease
- Oceans rising
- etc

[Lorien]

13. Don't forget forest failures, droughts, and oxygen loss

with the loss of the world's rainforests and the massive spreading dead zones in the world's oceans (which produce 65% of our oxygen), most life forms on earth stand little chance of survival.

[The Stranger]

17. Did Chimp sign the Kyoto Protocol yet?

You know, the global warming treaty every major country in the world had signed, but Chimp refused?

[TX-RAT]

18. Why would we lose the rainforest's?

[SomewhereOutThere424]

28. because of the way the biomes co-exist

With temperatures and pressures changing it will slowly exist in a different way, killing off dependant forms of life. Some trees and animals only live in a place due to the few higher or lower margins of temperature, pressures, and environment.

It won't become like a desert or anything, but will definately change the biomes.

[Lorien]

32. Plus it's being logged out of existence

and the current drought in the Amazon is unprecedented.

[Lorien]

31. I assume that your statement is either a joke

or you are woefully uninformed.

[Psephos]

33. Actually, we won't lose the rainforests due to global warming

although there's a good chance we're going to lose them to monoculture farming.

In the primary global convection cell (called the Hadley circulation), warm air rises at the equator and dumps its moisture as rain as that wet air is lifted to high altitude. This now-dry air then streams poleward, and falls back to ground as dry, high-pressure air masses in the subtropics. You can see where the air returns by looking at the twin bands of deserts that circle the Earth in the subtropics, centered at roughly 30 degrees of latitude.

The Hadley circulation is going to be intensified somewhat by global warming, which means more water will circulate through the cell, leading to more rain in the tropics, and more dry warm air descending in the desert bands. Rain + humid warm air = rainforest (if humans don't burn them down).

You could look here if you're interested in learning more about the Hadley circulation, along with the two other major convection cells that affect our climate, the Polar cell, and the Ferrel cell, which is what drives the weather in temperate zones, such as most of the U.S. and Europe.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Atmospheric_circulation

Here's another good site that explains the global weather machinery.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/anatomy/machine.html

Peace.

[wickerwoman]

35. Why is it necessary

to insult someone simply for asking a question?

This seems to be happening more and more on DU. If Repubs have any grounds whatsoever for calls Dems elitist snobs, your post is a prime example.

Calling someone "woefully uninformed" for asking a simply question- asking to *be* informed in fact, is the last way on earth to get anything through to them.

But I guess you got your 10 seconds of feeling superior so it was all worth it.

[TX-RAT]

37. Why is it necessary to insult someone for asking a question?

It's usually the result of not knowing the answer.

Although the poster may very well be right in say Global warming will destroy the rainforest's, i'm not sure they know why.

[mac56]

45. That was my reaction too, bezdomny

Thank you. God help us all if someone can get dogpiled on here at DU for simply asking a question. Guess some people just feel the need to do their superior dance.

[TX-RAT]

36. Not a joke at all, an honest question.

Once again explain to me how global warming will make the rain forests disappear.

[salinen]

27. Thanks for

adding to the list.

[MisterP]

40. I wouldn't call it misleading, just limited to the Arctic zone

[Callalily]

10. I would suspect that the

effects of global warming cannot be reversed, but we, as a country should be doing anything we can to at least contain and/or stop the progression. It's totally irresponsible for Bu$h and his administration to dismiss the Kyoto Accord. Yes I agree, we are truly "laggards".

[applegrove]

12. Arctic was already a desert. Not known for its rainfall. Now this!

[TrogL]

16. It's warmer here today than in Miami

Contractors are overjoyed because they can still pour concrete easily, normally impossible this time of year.

[NickB79]

19. I just saw a Coca-Cola commercial with the polar bears drinking Coke

My vision is a commercial parodying this one, with the mother polar bear walking across the now-snowless tundra, emaciated and almost dead. Pan back to her two cubs, already starved to death and lying on the ground behind her. Somehow work a statement about how our consumption of natural resources is what killed them? My girlfriend thinks it's pretty messed up, but I think it would send a pretty powerful message.

[Lisa]

20. snow cover affects hydrology, depth of the permafrost layer ...

... wildlife populations (it's amazing how many plant and animal species depend on the insulating properties of the snowpack for shelter!) ... basically, it's key to maintaining boreal and arctic environments.

And when it disappears, you get a positive feedback loop setting in. Less snow, lower albedo (reflectivity), more absorption of sunlight, warmer surface, less snow ....

Which means that environmental changes can actually accelerate.

[Wise Doubter]

21. It`s like Twilight Zone ...

x(

[Swede]

23. Here in Saskatchewan there ain't no snow.

All my life,except for the last decade,November was a cold month,with snowbanks everywhere. I can walk on green grass in parks today. Something is screwed up.

[oregonindy]

24. here in portland oregon its bright and sunny

been that way for almost 2 weeks now. very very very wierd.

we always have rain and overcast skies this time of year. Its like an east coast fall here.

[bluedawg12]

25. I guess it's time to drill the Arctic for oil!

This is natures way of telling oil men to get in there and drill, drill, drill!

Yee-ha! now, let's go cut down some trees!!!

[Spinzonner]

26. Somebody give Meriwether the good news

[SomewhereOutThere424]

29. It's VERY funny

How so many DUers will scoff and laugh at protecting one kind of life or environment; but then become so depressed and frightened over the ice caps or arctic zones. Some people fail to realize nature is dependant on all the other forms of life around or within a certain biome. So yeah -- let's fail to protect other things, and only try to protect certain parts of the environment :sarcasm:

and people wonder why the environment is going to hell.

[MADem]

30. AW, HELL, the better to set up yer oil rigs, then!!!!

All that pesky snow just gits in the way of production...heh, heh! Ya know what I mean????

[Thom Little]

42. The only thing that disturbs me is....

.......that right-wing liars say this isn't happening even as science produces overwhelming evidence that it IS!

[0007]

43. God, I thought for a moment that the article was refereeing

to the Secret secretary of Treasure. John Snow.

[Odin2005]

44. Shouldn't warmer temperatures in the arctic...

cause MORE snowfall? All the climate predictions I have read say that warmer winters should have more snow because warmer air can hold more water vapor than colder air (which is why it really doesn't snow that much in the interior of Antarctica, there is not enough moisture to create a lot of snow).

Also, I read that the climate flips to glaciation mode when the earth's axis and the shape of it's orbit cause warmer winters and cooler summers in subartic regions. The warmer winters cause more snow, and the cooler summers cause not all the snow to melt, causing the growth of ice sheets.