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North Pole Ice On Track To Melt By September?
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Jun 27, 2008 02:12 PM
from the new-swimming-holes dept.
from the new-swimming-holes dept.
phobos13013 writes "Recently released evidence is showing the North Pole ice is melting at the highest rate ever recorded. As a result, the Pole may be completely ice-free at the surface and composed of nothing but open water by September. As reported in September of last year, the Northwest Passage was ice-free for the first time known to man. The implications of this, as well as the causes, are still being debated. Are global warming experts just short-sighted alarmists? Are we heading for a global ice age? Or is the increase in global mean temperature having an effect on our planet?"
Related Stories
[+]
Science: Impassable Northwest Passage Open For First Time In History 528 comments
An anonymous reader writes "The Northwest Passage, a normally ice-locked shortcut between Europe and Asia, is now passable for the first time in recorded history reports the European Space Agency. Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Centre said in the article: 'We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million sq km which is about 1 million sq km less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006. There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq km per year on average, so a drop of 1 million sq km in just one year is extreme.'"
[+]
Arctic Ice Extent Understated Because of "Sensor Drift" 698 comments
dtjohnson writes "The National Snow and Ice Data
Center (NSIDC) has been at the forefront of predicting doom in the arctic as ice melts due to global warming. In May, 2008 they went so far as to predict that the North Pole would be ice-free during
the 2008 'melt season,' leading to a lively Slashdot discussion. Today, however, they say that they have been the victims of 'sensor drift' that led
to an underestimation of Arctic ice extent by as much as 500,000 square
kilometers. The problem was discovered after they received
emails from puzzled readers, asking why obviously sea-ice-covered
regions were showing up as ice-free, open ocean. It turns
out that the NSIDC relies on an older, less-reliable method of tracking
sea ice extent called SSM/I that does not agree with a newer method called AMSR-E. So why doesn't NSIDC use the newer AMSR-E data? 'We do not use AMSR-E data in our analysis because it
is not consistent with our historical data.' Turns out that the AMSR-E data only goes back to 2002, which is probably not long enough for the NSIDC to make sweeping conclusions about melting. The AMSR-E data is updated daily and is available to the public. Thus far, sea ice
extent in 2009 is tracking ahead of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, so
the predictions of an ice-free north pole might be premature."
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You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
But lack of polar bears is good for seals. screw those polar bears and their radical bear agenda!
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
But the cod eat plankton. Screw those fish and their radical cod agenda!
-jcr
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Informative)
Polar bears don't actually live 'at the pole':
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Polar_bear_range_map.png [wikimedia.org]
They live in areas around which, according to the article, have plenty of ice...
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
They live in areas around which, according to the article, have plenty of ice...
Damn...That must be why my freezer keeps growling at me.
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:You know who I feel sorry for? (Score:5, Funny)
Without these natural predators the population of Arctic researchers could reach dangerous levels.
Parent
santa? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh no! What will happen to santa and his elves, and the reindeer? Won't someone think of the reindeer?
Re:santa? (Score:5, Funny)
But Mommy I have been good this year.
Sorry Billy Santa dies from global warming, and it all because you had to go back to the house from school because you forgot your lunch.
Parent
Finally (Score:5, Funny)
It's about fucking time those damn penguins get what they deserve.
Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Finally (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Finally (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the sound of that joke going way over your head.
Your remark interests me cause as a relative new slashdot member, I noticed that one of the main things I love about the threads here is the wonderful intermixing between jokes, facts, irony, wisdom and sarcasm.
Your reasonably funny joke, gave someone else the opportunity to spread a fact he's been sitting on for years. Besides all the funny guys, there are a lot of smart people dwelling here, and I for one welcome the knowledge especially in this intermixed way.
In other words. Take it easy..
Parent
Tell us in September (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not news. This is a prediction that there might be news in September.
If it doesn't happen, will we get an apology for misleading us?
From TFA (Score:5, Informative)
"The melt would be mostly symbolic--thicker ice, pushed against the Canadian continental shelf by weather and Earth's rotation, would still survive the summer."
So when we say the North Pole will melt we are talking about a point not the whole Artic ocean which is what impression one might get from the title.
Re:From TFA (Score:5, Informative)
That's correct. The last estimate (2006) for a complete summer Arctic melt was the year 2013.
Before that it was 2038, and before that it was the year 2100...
Parent
What about that volcano under all that water? (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe the melting ice could have something to do with this:
AFP Volcanic eruptions reshape Arctic ocean floor: study [yahoo.com]
Arctic Volcanoes Found Active at Unprecedented Depths [nationalgeographic.com]
Some analysis at:
Global Warming - Or Simply Massive Under Sea Volcanoes? [strata-sphere.com]
Cryosphere Chart (Score:5, Informative)
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/ [uiuc.edu]
Best graph is :
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.jpg [uiuc.edu]
My friends refer to it a climate-porn...
Can't say I strongly disagree since it has the feel of watching a loooong slow train wreck...
Re:1421 (Score:5, Informative)
That book was powerfully bitch-smacked it was so debunked after it came out.
I wouldn't take any details in it seriously... good book, interesting theory, but most of the evidence was fabricated or misinterpreted.
Parent
Re:1421 (Score:5, Funny)
Just read a great book about China's 'discovery' of the America around 1421 and they were able to get their junks around Greenland, a feat not otherwise possible, but it was warm that year.
Just think how much they've progressed, now they can get their junks all the way to Walmart!
Parent
Re:1421 (Score:5, Informative)
You do realize that book is widely considered to be poppycock [1421exposed.com]?
Parent
Re:Natural? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. No one credible believes that we are entirely responsible for the climate change, on the other hand no one credible disputes that we are contributing to it. No matter what the cause, the increased global temperature is a bad thing for us and thus it is in our best interest to stop contributing to the change ASAP.
Parent
Re:Natural? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, Chrichton. Because writing Jurassic Park is the only scientific credential that actually matters.
With all due respect, he's got an M.D., he's not a climatologist. I don't call a plumber when I'm sick; I don't ask an M.D.'s opinion on climate change.
Parent