Norway's IPY Secretariat Head - If 2008 Matches 2007 Temps, Arctic Sea Ice May Go This Year - Xinhua

[hatrack]

OSLO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The polar cap in the Arctic may well disappear this summer due to the global warming, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, said on Friday.

The shrinking of the Arctic ice cap has been astonishing, Orheim said in an interview with Xinhua.

"Ice sheet hit the historical low of 3 million square km duringthe hottest weeks last summer, while it covered 7.5 million squarekm on average before the year 2000, " he said.

"If Norway's average temperature this year equals that in 2007,the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions," Orheim said.

EDIT

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/01/content_7696460.htm

[pscot]

1. And it's happening so much faster

than anyone predicted.

[Zachstar]

4. Oh my god!

I read reports that we had 5 years 5 FUCKING YEARS!! I know it was not rooted in direct science but how are we supposed to do ANYTHING to stop this if we don't have 5 years?!

My god I have seen this go from 100 years to 2 in the short time I have been viewing this mess.

I am almost to the point of just accepting that the gig is up and trying to enjoy the good years while they last.

I am not trying to push religion on anybody but I will say that I pray to god that this does not happen. I do not see anything else that can be said when we have but a few months to do anything.

[GliderGuider]

5. Things aren't going to fall apart quite that fast.

Even if the arctic ice all disappears this summer (and there's a very good chance it won't - not all of it, anyway), it won't affect life on the North American continent much if at all.

I think we still have five years before problems start getting serious in Saskatoon and Des Moines. The first impacts on the North American standard of living won't come from climate change, except in a few drought areas of the US south-west. Even those won't be that bad compared to Australia and Africa. The first hit is likely to be from declining oil imports, and even that won't be noticeable at street level for another three years or so. What things will be like after 5 years is anybody's guess.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. The barrel has gone over the waterfall

And we invented the cliché "tipping point" just in time, too.

What we must concern ourselves with now is adjusting to a new world. It may not be pleasant, but I do think we can pull through.

Then again, there is a big difference between "can" and "will".

--p!

[izquierdista]

2. Can we organize a hike?

For all the Global Warming deniers. Give them skis and let them set off for the North Pole to prove that there's plenty of ice there. Then we would have just one left....Limbaugh

[eppur_se_muova]

3. MFTE again. nt

[XemaSab]

6. Slower than expected...

Within 24 hours of getting in town I broke both my mom's computer keyboard and the phone jack, so I've been offline.

We have what, another month before the big northern ice popcorn-fest starts? :shrug: