J A M E S C O P E~

2 Column

The Fr zer Defrosts ****

**

**

The Fr zer Defrosts

Dramatic melting of sea ice due to global warming is having a major impact on the polar region

*

5National Environment

Arctic Crisis

“

”

In the last few days it has been losing

sq km a day100,000

5 5National Environment National Environment

Arctic Crisis

“Only 15 years ago I didn’t expect to see such dramatic chang-es – no one did. The ice-free season is far longer now. Twenty years ago it was about a month. Now it’s three months. Tempera-tures last week in the Arctic were 14C, which is pretty warm.”Scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Arctic Regional Ocean Observing System in Norway and others in Japan have said the ice is very close to its minimum recorded in 2007.

The University of Bremen, whose data does not take into account ice along a 30km coastal zone, says it sees ice extent below the all-time record low of 4.33m sq km recorded in September 2007.Ice volume in the Arctic has declined dramatically over the past decade. The 2011 minimum was more than 50% below that of

2005. According to the Polar Science Centre at the University of Washington it now stands at around 5,770 cubic kilometres, compared with 12,433 cu km during the 2000s and 6,494 cu km in 2011. The ice volume for 31 July 2012 was roughly 10% below the value for the same day in 2011. A new study by UK scientists suggests that 900 cu km of summer sea ice has disappeared from the Arctic Ocean over the past year.The consequences of losing the Arctic’s ice coverage for the summer months are expected to be immense. If the white sea ice no longer reflects sunlight back into space, the region can be ex-pected to heat up even more than at present. This could lead to an increase in ocean temperatures with unknown effects on weather systems in northern latitudes.

In a statement, a Greenpeace spokesman said: “The disappear-ing Arctic still serves as a stark warning to us all. Data shows us that the frozen north is teetering on the brink. The level of ice ‘has remained far below average’ and appears to be getting thin-ner, leaving it more vulnerable to future melting. The consequenc-es of further rapid ice loss at the top of the world are of profound importance to the whole planet. This is not a warning we can afford to ignore.”Longer ice-free summers are expected to open up the Arctic ocean to oil and mining as well as to more trade. This year at least 20 vessels are expected to travel north of Russia between northern Europe and the Bering straits. Last week a Chinese icebreaker

Will Arctic inhibitors such as Penguins adapt, or will they face certain extinction? This will

depend on one dominant Mammal, Humans.