It seems like for every uplifting environmental victory like this one and this one, there are at least 10 depressing news tidbits and predictions. Here’s the latest. This one weirds me out. Makes me think of that god-awful Costner movie, Waterworld.
Arctic sea ice could break apart completely at the North Pole this
year, allowing ships to sail over the normally frozen top of the world…
The potential landmark thaw – the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free – is a
stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web
site of the The Independent, a London newspaper…
Several studies in recent years have predicted that the North Pole
could be ice-free within a few decades. Alarm has ratcheted up every
summer as the ice gets thinner and thinner. In a study released June 10,
scientist said the rapid meltoff in the Arctic could threaten
permafrost in continental soil elsewhere above the Arctic circle in a
warm version of the snowball effect.
Last summer saw a record melt
of Arctic sea ice, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its
average. Around the peak of the melt, in September, air temperatures
over land in the western Arctic from August to
October were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius)
above the 1978-2006 average.
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