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Scientists wonder if Arctic melting a blip or a warning
Ice disappeared at record levels this summer
By SETH BORENSTEIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.
Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.
"The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.
Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.
This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."
So scientists in recent days have been asking themselves these questions: Was the record melt seen all over the Arctic in 2007 a blip amid relentless and steady warming? Or has everything sped up to a new climate cycle that goes beyond the worst-case scenarios presented by computer models?
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Rather than beat this subject to a green pulp, let me mention another angle. Has anyone ever thought about the fact that the frozen ice and snow in the poles were kind of a "last resort" source of pure water?
It's time for people to stop peddling carbon credits and sit down at the big boys and girls table where the grown up folks have discussions.
The earth can adjust and self repair as it warms (and for sure humans are not the only contributors to the warming). The problem is that humans have kicked the legs out from under the earth, so to speak, so that the flora, fauna and ecosystem cannot rapidly evolve and adjust as the warming takes place. THAT'S the huge big fat problem.
Animals can't adjust because their home territories are already so stressed and small. The same with the plants. And how can we have secure sources of pure water when people write potty jokes but do not provide actual toilets to over 1 billion of the people on earth?
Over fishing the oceans is a really great idea too. If agriculture fails because of lack of water, um, where would people go for nutritious food that doesn't need irrigation. Um, the ocean. You know, the ocean that has been polluted and over fished. Has anyone thought about that? Rather than stupid carbon credits how about people getting serious about cleaning up and repopulating the earth's "safety net," the ocean?
Humans are always about thirty years behind where they should be. The oceans should have been cleaned and restocked by now.
Doh.
