nytimes.com...excerpts...
In a Melting Trend, Less Arctic Ice to Go Around
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: September 29, 2005
The floating cap of sea ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank this summer to what is probably its smallest size in at least a century of record keeping, continuing a trend toward less summer ice.
That shift is hard to explain without attributing it in part to human-caused global warming.
The findings are consistent with recent computer simulations showing that a buildup of smokestack and tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases could lead to a profoundly transformed Arctic later this century, when much of the once ice-locked ocean would routinely become open water in summers.
Expanding areas of open water in the summer could be a boon to whales and cod stocks, and the ice retreat could create summertime shipping shortcuts between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
But a host of troubles lie ahead as well. One of the most important consequences of Arctic warming will be increased flows of meltwater and icebergs from glaciers and ice sheets, and thus an accelerated rise in sea levels, threatening coastal areas. The loss of sea ice could also hurt both polar bears and Eskimo seal hunters.
This summer was the fourth in a row with the ice cap areas sharply below the long-term average, said Mark C. Serreze, a senior scientist at the snow and ice center and a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Dr. Scambos said the consecutive reductions in the ice cap"make it pretty certain a long-term decline is under way."
"With all that dark open water, you start to see an increase in Arctic Ocean heat storage," Dr. Serreze said. "Come autumn and winter that makes it a lot harder to grow ice, and the next spring you're left with less and thinner ice. And it's easier to lose even more the next year."
The result, he said, is that the Arctic is "becoming a profoundly different place than we grew up thinking about."
the weather change, i mean...wow...you're right...it really is global...hmmm....
) and sadly shows that the thermohaline circulation not only reduces, but may shut-down completely under ''strong'' global warming with a fourfold increase of CO2 concentration within the next 140 years (and by then earth may be dust if some big guy has had his mind set and satisfied on playing with his dangerous toys).
