Arctic to be ice-free in summer in 20 years, says scientist
By Peter Griffiths, Reuters
Thu, Oct 15 2009 at 4:46 AM EST
Photo: ZUMA Press LONDON - Global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said on Thursday.
Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge, said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years.
EMAIL
Facebook
Stumble
Tweet
DiggThe changes will mean the top of the Earth will appear blue rather than white when photographed from space and ships will have a new sea route north of Russia.
Scientists say evidence of melting Arctic ice is one of the clearest signs of global warming and it should send a warning to world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December for U.N. talks on a new climate treaty.
"The data supports the new consensus view -- based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition -- that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years," Wadhams said in a statement.
"Much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years."
Wadhams, one of the world's leading experts on sea ice cover in the North Pole region, compared ice thickness measurements taken by a Royal Navy submarine in 2007 with evidence gathered by the British explorer Pen Hadow earlier this year.
Hadow and his team on the Catlin Arctic Survey drilled 1,500 holes to gather evidence during a 280-mile walk across the Arctic. They found the average thickness of ice-floes was 1.8 meters, a depth considered too thin to survive the summer's ice melt.
Sometimes referred to as the Earth's air-conditioner, the Arctic Sea plays a vital role in the world's climate. As Arctic ice melts in summer, it exposes the darker-colored ocean water, which absorbs sunlight instead of reflecting it, accelerating the effect of global warming.
Dr. Martin Sommerkorn, from the environmental charity WWF's Arctic program, which worked on the survey, said the predicted loss of ice could have wide-reaching affects around the world.
"The Arctic Sea ice holds a central position in our Earth's climate system. Take it out of the equation and we are left with a dramatically warmer world," he said.
"This could lead to flooding affecting one-quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions .... and extreme global weather changes."
Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said the research "sets out the stark realities of climate change."
"This further strengthens the case for an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen," he added.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
Copyright 2009 Reuters US Online Report Top News
Want more? Check out our climate change section.
Link
Comments(2)
Posted By Dest - Fri, Oct 16 2009 at 2:42 PM ESTAtlantis tomorrow
And what is going to happen to other continents - I guess the significant parts of them will appear under the water, just like Atlantis thousands years ago.
Czech Republic
Deadly heat
Imagine what it would be like if temperatures rose 10 or twenty degree's in places like LasVegas, the high desert or along the East Coast where humidity is so high, life will be almost unbearable. Plants and wildlife will die and the food chain will be broken. It's true that life on earth as we know it will end as predicted in the bible.