Amount of Arctic Sea Ice is Droping Each Decade (2008.09.17)

The ice is in a "death spiral" and may disappear in the summers within a couple of decades, according to Mark Serreze, an Arctic climate expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Each winter, sea ice fills most of the Arctic Ocean. The ice pack then melts and shrinks in the summer heat.

With additional heating due to global warming, the extent of sea ice cover has gotten smaller and smaller over the summers since the 1980s.

This has scientists concerned—and not just because the ice melt is a symptom of global warming. Sea ice has a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight back into space. So when the ice shrinks and opens up more ocean, more of the sun's heat is soaked up by the dark sea.

This heats up the Arctic—and the planet—more than the greenhouse effect on its own, in turn melting even more ice.

Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080917-sea-ice.html

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• arctic
• ice
• melting
• global
• warming
• climate
• change

[mphello]

Great video!

[mphello]

Police, DEA agents, FBI agents lie. They get rich off the illegal imprisonment of US citizens. They have stress-free easy jobs. And they do ZERO service to society, imprisoning people for speech and drug choice.

By contrast, these vastly underpaid climate researchers risk their lives, improving our knowledge so we can make the right choices that will save our economic future and improve quality of life for everyone.

[david222444]

Death spiral my ass.

[Baronstone]

@alinasofya Period of millions of years? Are you really that damn stupid? I would like to direct your attention to the period starting in 1645 until 1715. If it takes millions of years, then how the hell do you explain the Maunder Minimum? You cant because you're trying to blow smoke up everyones ass!

For the climate to swing one way or the other only takes a few dozen years. What takes time is for glaciers to grow and for them to melt, but it doesnt take anywhere near millions of years

[Baronstone]

ROFL only 10% more than the lowest ever recorded and yet we know there have been periods when there was NO ICE AT ALL. I mean for the love of god you people are dense if you buy into the hysteria. The average global temp is 14.2C and we know that when we arent in periods of glaciation (which we still are) that the average temp runs about 22.0C.

[alinasofya]

For those that the Earth has changed many times before you are correct. But usually, in the past these changes happened over a period of millions of years. Global warming has happened over only decades. The strongest effects happening in this decade. Global Warming is a natural thing. But human activity was quickened it.

[BeondaPale]

Really? Ever hear of nuclear winter? Look it up.

We humans have the ability to change the Earth's atmosphere in a day. Which kind of destroys your argument that we are not powerful enough as a species to change the environment.

According to the US Geological Survey Humans emit as much CO2 as 7000 additional volcanos

We 6.7 billion humans DO have the power to change the environment and that's exactly what most scientists in the world are saying we are doing

[firejack007]

Didn't answer the nuke question cause it was dumb. Radiation more dangerous than temperature, unless you're standing where the nuke went off then it wouldn't matter.

[BeondaPale]

1. Yes, is has been warm before, But the current warmth is unsurpassed in the last 1000 years at least .

AND the CO2 levels are WAY up past any time in the last 600,000 years

We are performing an unwise experiment on THE ONLY PLACE WE CAN LIVE with all this extra CO2

2. Polar bears are not the issue. They're only one species. What biologists are saying is that a MASS extinction is happening.

3. You didn't answer my question re: nuclear bombs. -- why?

[firejack007]

Haven't you seen the data on all the warming periods before now? Some higher? How did the Polar Bears get thru it then, huh? We don't have that much power and too many don't have a clue on the size and power of the Earth.