Arctic Ocean Could Be Ice-free In Summer Within 100 Years, Scientists Say

[sabra]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050824081334.htm

Arctic Ocean Could Be Ice-free In Summer Within 100 Years, Scientists Say

The current warming trends in the Arctic may shove the Arctic system into a seasonally ice-free state not seen for more than one million years, according to a new report. The melting is accelerating, and a team of researchers were unable to identify any natural processes that might slow the de-icing of the Arctic.

Such substantial additional melting of Arctic glaciers and ice sheets will raise sea level worldwide, flooding the coastal areas where many of the world's people live.

Melting sea ice has already resulted in dramatic impacts for the indigenous people and animals in the Arctic, which includes parts of Alaska, Canada, Russia, Siberia, Scandinavia and Greenland.

“What really makes the Arctic different from the rest of the non-polar world is the permanent ice in the ground, in the ocean and on land,” said lead author University of Arizona geoscientist Jonathan T. Overpeck. “We see all of that ice melting already, and we envision that it will melt back much more dramatically in the future as we move towards this more permanent ice-free state.”

[Minstrel Boy]

1. I predict

within two years, that estimate will be halved. And halved again two years after that.

[phantom power]

5. Exactamundo.

[kanrok]

2. Sweet!!!

Time to buy some vacation property in the Arctic Circle!

:sarcasm: (for those who have no sense of humor).

[shraby]

3. At long last there will be a Northwest Passage

opened up. Unfortunately......

[stevedeshazer]

4. What's next? The "Arctic Free Trade Agreement"?

You just KNOW they'll outsource more jobs to Greenland. :eyes:

[OldCurmudgeon]

6. Goodbye, polar bears...

Goodbye, polar bears, it was nice knowing you. One of these years you'll discover that you can't swim far enough to get back to land from your pack ice hunting grounds. Sorry we won't be there to see your last moments, but take comfort in the fact that we kill you only by neglect; we kill our own with glee.