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TechnoratiOTTAWA - The incredibly rapid rate at which Canada's Arctic ice shelves are disappearing is an early indicator of the "very substantial changes" that global warming will impose on all mankind, a top scientist said on Wednesday.
![[An undated photo from the Center for Northern Studies shows the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf disintegrating. The incredibly rapid rate at which Canada's Arctic ice shelves are disappearing is an early indicator of the "very substantial changes" that global warming will impose on all mankind, a top scientist said on Wednesday. (REUTERS/Denis Sarrazin/Center for Northern Studies/Handout)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/arctic.jpg "arctic.jpg")
Researchers announced late on Tuesday that the five ice shelves
along Ellesmere Island in the Far North, which are more than 4,000
years old, had shrunk by 23 percent this summer alone.
The largest shelf is disintegrating and one of the smaller shelves, covering 19 square miles (55 square km), broke away entirely last month.
"Climate models indicate that the greatest changes, the most severe changes, will happen earliest in the highest northern latitudes," said Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec.
"This will be the starting point for more substantial changes throughout the rest of the planet.... Our indicators are showing us exactly what the climate models predict," he told Reuters in an interview.
Global warming is forecast to generate more damaging weather extremes such as hurricanes, cyclones and floods.
Vincent, who has visited the ice shelves along Ellesmere Island every year for the past 10 years, said the impact of higher temperatures this year was "staggering".
His team had estimated that the shelves would lose eight square miles this summer. The true figure was 83 square miles.
"What was extraordinary was just the vast quantity of open water ... you could see open water to the horizon in an area that is typically ice-covered throughout the season," he said.
The Markham Ice Shelf split away from Ellesmere Island in early August. Two large chunks totalling 47 square miles have broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, reducing it in size by 60 percent.
The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, at 155 square miles the largest of the remaining four shelves, is disintegrating.
"Clearly the long-term viability of that ice shelf is now actually short-term," said Vincent.
The peak temperature the team recorded was 67.5 degrees Fahrenheit (19.7 degrees Celsius), far above the average of 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
Vincent said he had no doubt that global warming was caused in part by human activity.
"I think we're at a point where it is not stoppable but it can be slowed down. And if you think about the magnitude of effects on our society, then we really need to buy ourselves more time to get ready for some very substantial changes that are ahead," he said.
Ellesmere Island was once home to a single enormous ice shelf totalling around 3,500 square miles. All that is left today are the four much smaller shelves that together cover little more than 300 square miles.
Scientists say the shelves, which contain unique microscopic ecosystems that have not yet been studied, will not be replaced because they took so long to form.
"More and more, we're realizing that it is microscopic life that really dominates the biodiversity of planet Earth ... we really need to understand what that biodiversity is," said Vincent.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson
36 Comments so far
Show AllALL THIS HOOPOLA ~SIG~?
Wow, all of the words in this article are wrong in your opinion, the Arctic ice is not melting like never before in the history of mankind, you have far better information and statistics, WOW. Pass the word ~SIG~, join up with MIMI, the LIZARD, Mess an thorpe, Verocity, Alias Namaste, Presense, etc, and let all know that there is no sweat aboutt the Arctic heating up and the vast quantities of methane hydrates there are a danger to anyone. Oh please do not offer the link with the article written by a 19 year old politicical science major who's site is financed by EXXON, it's not credible.
Here is ALL you and your side-kick ~MIMI~ need to understnd ~SIGGY~.____If one has a cubic foot of ice which has been loaded with a few ounces of methane and keeps that block of ice frozen, the methane gas will stay locked up in the ice from now thru perpituity. However, if the ice is allowed to melt for ANY REASON, the methane will escape into the atmosphere. ___ Pretty sinple huh?
~SIGGY~ did you know that if a person bangs their head against a wall for an hour, they can burn off 500 calories? ____ Try it.
I Kare looks like an ad for an optician. Just kidding.
Your list of deniers is getting pretty long, and MiMi is "really out there", but all of us CDers are just drops in the bucket. The real frustration is the possibility of a McCain victory. He talks the talk on global warming, but don't expect him to walk it. Campaign finance reform, budgets, war... you name it - he says what some people want to hear, but casts his vote in the senate with the neocons almost every time.
At the same time, the neocons will be using Palin as their voice while grooming her to be the next Dubya. It will be "business as usual" unless a climate related disaster really gets everyone's attention, and at that point it may be too late. So many people WANT business as usual and are actually afraid of an Obama administration.
(Maybe Siggy has been doing some other repetitive self-abusing activity. Where does he get a cooling trend?)
Ya know, in all this hoopla that is not scientific at all.......what do you say about our current cooling trend????????? Does NO one want to address that?
And what about 3,000 years ago when we were a lottttttttttt warmer than today. And......the methane didn't release.....mmmmmmm..........everrrrrrrrr thought of that at all???????????????????
Can we please STOP using the 20th century term Global Warming already??? As anyone can plainly see, it's now the Climate Crisis!!! Thanx, Al Gore and bum-bye polar bears. [boo hoo]
who's the asshole that flagged me?
tag.......gou yot the flag.
There is a person here who wondered at a recent article I posted that drew attention to the economy of the west as central to the climate change issue. It is a great wonder how this RNC group can call for ever great new finds of fossil fuel while we know that the very essence of the problem is petroleum used for energy production.
There is a complete disconnect between the American Dream and the climate change nightmare brought to us all by the western world. . . And all who want to join in on the "free for all" like CHINA and India as many of us forecast 20 years ago. My friends it is not free at all it is the death of humanity.
The global environmental crisis will deepen, global supplies of fresh water will diminish and global conflicts will grow. The global economy will continue to contract and health issues will increase from airborne disease and greater toxicity in the environment. Rates of Cancer in the last ten years have grown exponentially, particularly for those people over sixty. It is not far to look for the reasons. The USA with a small fragment of the World’s population produces seventy percent of the global toxic substances. It also produces the most human conflict in the pursuit of economic security called the "national interest".
It certainly is not my interest. In terms of this recession as we all can see it has reduced the use of fosil fuels dramatically. This must continue not end with a new wave of American Dreaming.
it's an exciting time (and not in a good way) that we live in.
As for you pro denial posters on warming and the ice shelves. For every site you post that says it is natural there are a thousand out there that say it is man made. For the first time in recorded history BOTH the North West passage and North East passage are open. The ice that was attached to both Russia and Canada is not. That is the first time in recorded history. So how can your NASA ( who is out of bussiness if Bush pulls the funding) not be neo lock step?
HP,
No sense trying to engage denialists - they see things as they wish. Some of them, no doubt, are members in good standing of the Flat Earth Society.
bbr:
Remember Harper is in the north because he is calling a national election this week. He is owned by big oil and other industries. The US want him to win since he is a GB jr.
Again when a leader of a country has a passed that would destroy him and his party he is controlled.
US automobile and aircraft manufacturers will pay for worldwide global warming mitigation. Let's not forget who is responsible for global warming:
wikipedia: The Great American Streetcar Scandal was the acquisition of streetcar systems throughout the United States, and their dismantling and replacement with buses in the mid 20th century by the National City Lines (NCL) holding company, formed by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum. It is alleged that NCL's companies had an ulterior motive in their purchase of streetcar systems of forcing mass use of the automobile among the U.S. population.
There is an associated press article about this on AOL this morning with some good photos. It also quotes Vincent, but the last paragraphs have Canadian PM Harper telling how he's going to protect Canada's mineral rights once the area is ice free. Dubya ain't the only clueless "leader" on this continent.
I've believed in reincarnation almost my entire adult life as it's so convenient you can explain almost everything with it. If you include the transmigration of soul/spirit as the hindu's do with their 8,4000,000 (circle of 84 lak.... lak being a thousand.... also called the wheel of 84) species that we have to pass through before we reach the human form. Naturally most souls are so giddy when they reach the top wrung of the latter that they totally blow it (kind of like letting that polar bear out after years of captivity) and run amuck.
The law of karma (as you sow you will reap) is inviable and there is no forgiveness. Forgiveness is a myth of the priestcraft to gain wealth and power. Cessation of evil is the only way to break the chain of bad karma, thus Christ advised his followers to "go and sin no more". One will always have to reap his ill sown seeds in this life of the next. The real problem is the great lag time before payback. It could be likened to an endless credit card with no limits but perfect memory. You will not remember your ill sown (or even good sown) seeds from past lives but they will certainly remember you.
You see the law of karma is actually UNIVERSAL JUSTICE that is always working it way through our lives except we do not comprehend it and think the world is filled with accident, misfortune, and apparent injustice, good luck or bad. But all these events are just being metered out from the great master card creditor in the ethers. Why are the holy-men (jesus, gandhi, the dali lama), so patient with their so called enemies. They know each has his part to play (hero, villain, thief, or whore) in the infinite's giant play (called Liela by hindu's).
Well back to the pet thing. Yes, it makes perfect sense from karmic point of view .... remember I said everything does. In a past life one took unfair advantage of another but maybe that other wasn't evolved enough to take another human birth. You owe him big time and one of the most dependent codependent relationships is the pet owner to his pet. You care for him, feed him, love him and in return he wags his tail and jumps around. After some time you can even start to resemble one another. Subconsciously all real lovers of their beloved "pet" know that it isn't a mere animal but something much more profound.....
The gluten might come back as a pig, the bully as a tiger, the lazy person as a beast of burden, the sensualist as a roaster, the vain as a peacock, the surfer as a dolphin, the muscle builder as a rhino..... on and on. It's a fun game. Oh, there are three types of karma: 1. reserve karma, a huge store house of obligations built up from many lifes that will take many lives to pay off. 2. The karma we are to go through in this specific life. 3. The karma's we are sowing in this life which will add to (good or bad) to our storehouse of reserve karma's.... and the beat goes on.
Notice the words in the title of that link's article I posted and was penned by John Atcheson.
___________"TICKING TIME BOMB". _________________Indeed it is. l.
BTW, some deniers call it (MY) link. ____ HAAAA. It ain't MINE, it's John Atchesons, and it was first posted here at Common Dreams four years ago in a Common Dreams headline article. Last month a scientist who studies the Arctic's perma- frost was on the the TV program "Planet In Peril". She used the wordds , "A TICKING TIME BOMB" when speaking about the very possible release of the methne gas which has been safely locked up in the ice for the past 600,000 years.
I now use the name ~I Kare~ becaue I do care, along with almost everyone else here I'm certain.___ What's in a name? ___ I did not change it so that I could post a very impportant link, which details why the Arctic thaw is so very important for all life on Earth. The actual "clear and present danger" (to swipe an appropriate phrase.) A clear and present danger that most certainly will occur when the Arctic thaws suffeciently. I used ~KEM PATRICK~ my PEN NAME, for a year here. ___ So what? Does that bother anyone besides ~MIMICCS~? ___ It sure don't bother me. ~MIMICCS~ constantly posting in-accurate comments denying Global Warming bothers me, but that is his right and perogative. I don't appreciate his personal insults like those he posted on another like thread here yesterday, inslults which he and his croud direct at me, but it's only a computer screen and if they wish to bother with such tripe, so be it.
MIMI does not approve of the link I post about the Arctic methane gas issue. --- So what? ___ He don't have to readi it, no one does and that's no skin off of my nose. Do I write this because I like it? ___ Nope, I write this because I firmly believe the autrhor of this article is 100% correct. He is highly credible, highy respected by his peers and the International Geographical Society, among many other very well qualified scientists. MIMICCS on the other hand is just anther Global Warming denier who constanty attempts to entice others to belive he is correct and there is no serious problem with the Arcti thawing. He could not be more wrong.
Here is the link once again. It takes about three minutes to rad and if anyone does they may very well agree that it is indeed very importnat and perhaps we shouldl attempt to prevnet the disaster from occurring.
http://www.energybulletin.net/3647.html
I Kare/KEM - Whatever you wish to call yourself, you still speak the same and are easily recognized by your words. And because you speak truth and back up what you say, the truth killers must try to destroy you. Keekp up the good work. I continue to pass this link on to anyone I come in contact with, and to show the printed bulletin to those not on the web.
KEM! BUDDY! DUDE!
Walk in peace.
KEM! If that is you, then howdy! I was wondering where you were.
This is frightening!
What other expression can we use?
I've called it The Big Melt for years now but rarely share the term.
One weird thing. I just looked at the GISS temp anomaly maps, and Jan-July 08 was about baseline temperatures for the Ellesmere Island Baffin Bay area. 2005 and 2007 were at least 1 degree higher than baseline up there. Maybe temps popped up in August or warm water is circulating in.
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/
Ice breaks naturally on an ice shelf because the contributing landbased
glacier is advancing or retreating, or because of tidal or wave actions or changing wind patterns. A report last year by NASA showed that different sea ice conditions in 2007 were due to changing wind patterns.
Precipitation is also a factor, too much snow or rain could increase the weight on the shelf and cause it to break off.
To put things in perspective, the Arctic seas ice is 4 million square miles.
http://www.fcpp.org/pdf/FB64%20Arctic%20Sea%20Ice.pdf
"Vincent, who has visited the ice shelves along Ellesmere Island every year for the past 10 years, said the impact of higher temperatures this year was "staggering". His team had estimated that the shelves would lose eight square miles this summer. The true figure was 83 square miles."
Once again, the worst-case scenarios continue to exceed the most knowledgable scientists's gasps - this one by an entire order of magnitude squared! This is where the models fail, not on the denier's low end of the GW spectrum. And when you see the vast areas of newly-exposed dark sea surface ready to absorb and retain even more solar heat as in karlof1's BBC article, you know the feedback systems are irreversible. We're cooked, and anyone who doesn't see it is just a fool or an oil baron.
Where the hell is KEM? He seems to have got lost in the transition to the new format. I hope he catches up----------------lizard
He changed his name to IKare, just follow the 3647 link he posts repeatedly.
Vincent said he had no doubt that global warming was caused in part by human activity-----------------lizard
Now there is a statement we should all be able to agree on. No "deniers" can dispute that one. I certainly don't, it would be stupid. Now, what is causing the other part? How much is us, how much the other? This I would like to see discussed.
BTW, I don't think most "fundamentalists" are armgeddon junkies. They really don't have much use for Revelation. It doesn't say much about how to live a good life, and leaves too much to interpretation.
I know a few fundamentalists--Bhuddist and Atheist. They have no armageddon. But they are very passoinate about the planet. So are some Celtic Naturalists, along with almost every Hopi and Navaho I've met. Their Animism seems quite superior to the muddled stories populating the Bible. Then of course, if Christians were really "fundamentalists," they would live in communal settings, willingly share their resources, and rebel against authority.
The only ice Bush cares about is in his Margerita glass
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Ice lost over the last month...
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=09&fd=02&fy=2008&sm...
Thanks for the link. Nice big picture comparisons.
Roughly twelve years ago, my wife and I were in Calgary, and we decided to visit the zoo. An image that has haunted me to this day, was of a polar bear, that had obviously gone mad in captivity, swinging its head from side to side, over and over. Super creepy shit we humans pay admission to see.
Hey, arc. A lot of people, including me, don't support the zoos and other "super creepy shit we humans pay admission to see" by not going. It's easy.
Excellent BBC item here, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7595441.stm The 2007/2008 comparison photos are very revealing.
Thanks for that link... it's easy to lie with statistics... a much more difficult task to deal with visual proof. Denialism lives, but is becoming extinct at the same accelerated rate of ice loss... to which these comparisons provide unequivocal proof.