THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 09 2010 22:53 | LAST UPDATED Feb 09 2010 22:53 |
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Summer sea ice could be gone by 2080, says the International Polar Year (IPY), a scientific programme organised through the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organisation. "There is a probability that summer sea ice disappears before 2040, possibility within the next decade," said Dr David Carlson, director of the IPY's international programme office. Carlson was speaking at the United Nation's climate change talks in Bonn recently, which hoped to turn the tide on the melting of the cryosphere -- those areas where water is frozen, such as the Arctic. Pam Pearson, an Arctic pollution expert from the Climate Policy Centre, said melting was occurring more rapidly than previously thought. Earlier this year the Arctic Council -- an Arctic science organisation -- said that if melting in the Greenland ice sheet continues global sea levels could rise one metre by 2100. The World Glacier Monitoring Service said glaciers lost about 12m of water between 1980 and 2007. Recent reports show Antarctica is losing mass. But the danger goes beyond the sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers. Carlson said that the permafrost -- ground that's frozen for more than a year -- is also changing rapidly. It holds more carbon than the temperate and tropical forests. If the permafrost melts, it will release carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, further contributing to global warming. And scientists now say melting permafrost is also linked to sea ice loss. "The faster the permafrost disappears, the faster the sea ice disappears," said Carlson. Another issue that scientists are keen to raise is black carbon deposition. Black carbon -- or soot -- is a byproduct from incomplete combustion. These tiny particles travel to the poles and coat the ice, making it darker. Darker ice is less reflective so it absorbs more heat and causes further melting. Black carbon is not regulated under the climate convention and efforts to bring the issue into formal negotiations on climate change have failed. Pearson said this is because countries fear black carbon would then need to be recognised as a gas. "For policy-makers, you need to be able to speak about cost-benefit and right now we can't do that." Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, one of the vice-chairs for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the organisation has considered the issue of melting ice. He said the panel's fifth assessment report -- which will inform further negotiations on climate change -- will deal with "every aspect of the cryosphere, including black carbon". The panel hopes to organise meetings with the scientific community and sea-level rise has been identified as an issue to be covered. TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
Comments
As far as the North Pole is concerned, the Russians are expecting the first ice free summer alreay as early as 2014. But around Antarctica sea ice has been INCREASING at a rate of 100 000 sq km a decade since the 1970's, according to a landmark study published on April 23. The study by the British Antarctic Survey, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, adding that Antarctica rather than melting as a result of global warming, continues to expand. And never forget, the Antarctica is surrounded by the sea on all sides.
David Meades on July 8, 2009, 12:49 pm
From the article: "Earlier this year the Arctic Council -- an Arctic science organisation -- said that if melting in the Greenland ice sheet continues global sea levels could rise one metre by 2100"
In the desperate bid to try and link Co2 to climate change these people will fabricate anything to terrify the general population into believing them. Most of arctic ice sits on top of the oceans. If this ice were ever to melt it would not raise ocean levels one bit!!! Try this for yourself - fill a glass with ice cubes and then to the brim with water. When the ice melts the glass will not overflow!! Simply because ice has a greater volume than water! For sea levels to rise 1 metre is complete nonsense as is all the hype about Co2. Its time for us to ridicule these so-called scientists who speak this mumbo jumbo merely to satisfy the political agenda of the United Nations funded IPCC who want the West to increasingly fund the legion of corrupt regimes in Africa under the guise of "global warming".
Dennis Hoines on July 9, 2009, 4:11 pm
Currently, natural emissions from melting permafrost are not included in climate models. Remember, while land permafrost contains an estimate 1.5 trillion tons of carbon that will rapidly enter the air as greenhouse gas as it warms, there is significantly more permafrost underwater (i.e. submarine permafrost) that is close to thawing:
For instance, there is an area six times the size of Germany containing about 540 billion tons of carbon off the coast of Siberia. That submarine permafrost is perilously close to thawing. Three to 12 kilometers from the coast the sea sediment is just below freezing. The permafrost has grown porous, there is a loss of rigor in the frozen sea floor, and the surrounding seawater is highly oversaturated with solute methane. "If the Siberian (submarine) permafrost-seal thaws completely and all the stored gas escapes, the methane content of the planet's atmosphere would increase twelve fold. The result would be catastrophic global warming." --"A Storehouse of Greenhouse Gases Is Opening in Siberia," Spiegel, 17 April '08
Brad Arnold on July 14, 2009, 12:02 am
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