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Arctic Ice May Melt By 2040

Posted by kdawson on from the what-about-Santa? dept.

Dekortage writes in with a new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggesting that the North Pole may be clear of ice in summer as soon as 2040, decades earlier than previously thought. From the article: "'As the ice retreats, the ocean transports more heat to the Arctic and the open water absorbs more sunlight, further accelerating the rate of warming and leading to the loss of more ice,' Holland said in the statement. 'This is a positive feedback loop with dramatic implications for the entire Arctic.'"

3 of 474 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sea Level? by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can try this yourself with a glass of water and ice cubes. Mark the water line with the ice cubes floating, then let the ice melt and notice that it hasn't moved. This is elementary school physics.

    And by the time you get to college, you should have learned that the experiment does not work with saltwater.

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  2. Re:No change in sea level. by sadtrev · · Score: 5, Informative
    A few reasons why this is significant
    1. not all the ice that could melt is supported by water buoyancy.
    2. temperature changes of liquid water will cause change in density.
    3. polar bears will drown
    The first is what could inhibit the Atlantic Conveyor by weakening its motive force : the downward flow of cooled salty water would be disrupted by large quantities of freshwater runoff from Greenland. Consequence - European weather becomes more like that on Newfoundland.
    The second mechanism is what will cause sea levels to rise - the average temperature of the ocean is more than 4C so an uniform increase in water temperature will cause expansion. As the ocean is quite deep in places, a small expansion could lead to a significant rise in water level.
    Admittedly not everybody cares about polar bears drowning or European climate becoming too cold to make Champagne or low-lying island states in the Indian Ocean being obliterated. Selfish gits.
  3. Re:No change in sea level. by Climate+Shill · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been following global warming for a long time now doing a lot research on the side for the last couple of years. Here are some facts about global warming. Some of which you hear and don't hear from the main stream media: 1.) The world appears to be getting warmer with many computer models showing an increase in global temperature.

    The word you're looking for here is "thermometers".

    3.) Apparently, the Earth magnetic field has decreased by 10% in the last 150 years (source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth_magnet ic_031212.html). I'm an electrical engineer and during my studies in particle physics, I learned that a particles velocity can be affected by magnetic fields. I believe it's possible that more of the Sun's radiation is penetrating the Earth's magnetic field due to it being weaker. If more radiation hits the Earth, shouldn't that also increase the overall temperature of the Earth and can global warming be attributed to this?

    No, obviously not. The temperature was falling throughout those 150 years and has only started rising recently. The only correlated factor is CO2.

    4.) Jupitor is experiencing the same climate change that Earth is. (source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060504_red_j r.html [space.com])

    5.) Mars is experiencing the same climate change that Earth is. (source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ mars_snow_011206-1.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new s/news.html?in_article_id=410901&in_page_id=1770)

    Complete crap. We have absolutely no idea what the temperature history of the other planets is and so we have no way of drawing any conclusions from any changes we see.

    6.) The United Nations found that there is more Methane produced from livestock, which raises global temperature greater than CO2 by a factor of approx. 20, than any human caused CO2 combined (source: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/i ndex.html)

    The article you linked to says that CH4 only amounts to 18% of CO2-equivalent emissions. Since the lifetime of CH4 is only 12 years, the cumulative effect is smaller still.

    How can you explain the recent same climate changes on different planets? I doubt it's all those cars being driven there.

    See above. However, since temperatures on Earth have only started rising recently, and we've been monitoring the Sun's output longer than that, we can be sure the reason isn't a change in the Sun.

    Is it possible that the warmer temperatures that Earth is experiencing are caused by cyclical natural phenomena? What about glaciers in Greenland that have been shrinking for 100 years (source: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/21/060821191 826.o0mynclv.html [breitbart.com])? Also, how do you explain huge ice ages on Earth? Were thse caused by huge carbon emissions or was it a small natural climate cycle that just happens? Were those climate changes, which are no doubt more extreme than what's going on now, caused by the combustion engine? I don't have answers and everyone seems to have an opinion including a Nobel laureate who says the answer is more pollution (source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/16/smog.wa rming.ap/index.h