Svalbard Still Ice-Free At 80 North As Of 1 October - National Ice Center

[hatrack]

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. and Bush tells us that the jury's still out on Global Warming.

:eyes:

[bemildred]

2. Cheap land up there.

Could be a good long term investment.

[NNadir]

3. How unusual is this?

[hatrack]

4. From what I've read, and from the last 5 years of ice charts, it's odd

Much of this region is, of course, warmed by the Gulf Stream and the many currents it splits into around Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, the Faeroes, etc. But in the five-odd years I've been following NIC data, I've never seen it this watery this late in the season.

I posted a few weeks back on how Norwegian scientists had found a species of mussel normally found in waters off France and the eastern United States growing in Svalbard this year. They also noted that the ice extent was the lowest in a fairly long time.

Looking for the post now.

On Edit - found it:

OSLO - "Mussels have been found growing on the seabed just 1,300 km from the North Pole in a likely sign of global warming, scientists said.

The blue mussels, which normally favour warmer waters like off France or the eastern United States, were discovered last month off Norway's Svalbard archipelago in waters that are covered with ice most of the year. "The climate is changing fast," said Geir Johnsen, a professor at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology who was among experts who found the bivalves. Molluscs were a "very good indicator that the climate is warming," he said.

"It seems like the mussels we found are two to three years old," he told Reuters. Such shellfish have not been recorded off the islands since Viking times 1,000 years ago during another warm period.

EDIT

The scientists monitoring Svalbard also said they had found seas free of ice further north than for 250 years at one point this summer. "The climate has been warming," said Bjorn Gulliksen, a professor at the University of Svalbard. "The ice limit...has not been as far north since 1751."

EDIT/END

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/27235/story.htm