WARNING: North Pole To be Ice Free in 2008?
Posted by Jason A. Hendricks on June 26, 2008 |
The North Pole could be ice free by the end of 2008. This is some startling news coming from The Independent, a news publication out of the U.K., today.
They mention that for the first time in human history that the North Pole could lose all of it’s ice by the end of 2008.
The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.
Polar scientists, who incidentally they do mention by name, think that the chance of the North Pole being ice free in 2008 is 50-50.
The sea ice at the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean melts away during the summer. Last year’s melt-off was more extensive than previously believed, which left this years ice only a single year to build.
Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. “There’s a good chance that it will all melt away at the North Pole, it’s certainly feasible, but it’s not guaranteed,” Dr Lindsay said.
I think this news has caught everyone a bit off guard. Drudge Report already has it for a headline, but those that question the effects of even a slight temperature rise, may get their answer from the North, sooner, rather than later. Santa Claus rowing a boat just doesn’t have the same effect…