Arctic ice levels "Lowest in recorded history"

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
well holidays in Siberia will finally become more popular, time to buy some land there

I don't think it's going to be the new tahiti any time soon.

[Ellestar]

http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=resources-arctic

Professor Ola M. Johannessen, founding director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center affiliated with the University of Bergen in Norway, which also has a branch office in St. Petersburg, has been one of the pioneers in tracking the reduction of the ice cover in the Arctic. His team published their first research assessments in 1995, concluding that the extent of ice is decreasing on average at the rate of 3 percent per decade, although the change varies and fluctuates in different parts of the Arctic zone.

“The Arctic Ocean is being transformed toward lighter ice conditions, and the overall tendency is clear, with most changes becoming irreversible,” he said. “We predicted that ice could disappear entirely during summertime by the end of this century. But even if all Arctic ice melts, it will have no effect on sea level, because the overall volume of water will not change, unless the temperature of the water will also increase. Looking at the whole world, global warming is a negative factor, but its consequences for the Arctic itself will be mixed.”

[OneFootInTheGrave]

hah... that is if Grenland ice cap doesn't melt... but if it does = 5 m higher oceans... which will be fun for the coastal cities...

I think the dutch will be exporting a lot of their know how with the dams and how to keep the water away ...

overall it should not be a problem for rich countries, but developing ones will have serious issues with relocation as they will most likely not have the $$$ and tech to keep the water at bay, and continue to live under water levels.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Kidicious


I don't think it's going to be the new tahiti any time soon.

And Grimsby and Hull will be underwater. See, it's not all bad!

[Provost Harrison]

And Dartford too! Woooo!

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by notyoueither


And we've a ways to go before there's a lot of farming on Greenland.

I read somewhere recently that there was never THAT much farming in Greenland, the areas where the norse settlers did farm are basically warm enough to farm today, but its not economically feasible (the norse settlers didnt have access to a world grain market dominated by US midwestern corn, Alberta wheat, etc)

[OneFootInTheGrave]

no South England will be new Havaii and that is something worth looking forward to.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by snoopy369
On a more serious note, they say "in recorded history". How long have they been recording this? If it's less than a thousand years, they are being quite misleading by using that phrase, as even for the western hemisphere history has been recorded in some fashion for quite a long time

AP is silly... NYT is clearer

"The area of floating ice in the Arctic has shrunk more than in any summer since satellite tracking began in 1979, "

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
And to anyone who complains that he didn't link this to GW anywhere: **** off. We do it to Cali, we do it to aneeshm, it's really really obvious here too what the agenda is.

I dont do anything to Aneeshm. I either take his posts at face value, or I ignore them.

[Arrian]

So "recorded history" = 1979 to present.

While I am concerned about the environment, that isn't exactly a wealth of data.

-Arrian

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Arrian
So "recorded history" = 1979 to present.

While I am concerned about the environment, that isn't exactly a wealth of data.

-Arrian

I think it rather is. I mean, 30 years is nothing in geological terms, right? And yet, in those 30 years, there has been an incredibly large amount of change recorded. Think about it.

[Wezil]

I blame you Ludd. That unnecessary car trip to the US you took.

[General Ludd]

For the record, it was a bus trip.

[Wezil]

Even worse.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Arrian
So "recorded history" = 1979 to present.

While I am concerned about the environment, that isn't exactly a wealth of data.

-Arrian

by itself, sure. Its one more piece of the picture.


to put it another way - we know theres been global warming occuring the last couple of hundred years.

This suggests that it is accelerating the last 30 years.

Thats both a matter of concern itself, and IIUC, it would tend to confirm the IPCC models of global warming, which IIUC suggest that warming SHOULD be increasing with greater concentrations of GHG. IE it reduces (at least slightly) the likelihood that A. This is not anthropogenic B. The likelihood that it the rate of warming wont continue to accelerate.

There is also the issue of decreasing global albedo (sp?) as ice cover decreases, which further indicates this is a self reinforcing, rather than equilibrating, phenomenon. and the likelihood of impacts on ocean currents, creating significant secondary effects.

Altogether, not a trivial piece of data, I think.