artic sea ice shrunk 300,000 sq. kil. in one yr. - melting gaining speed

[donsu]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1774814,00.html


Meltdown fear as Arctic ice cover falls to record winter low


-snip-

Experts are worried because a long-term slow decline of ice around the north pole seems to have sharply accelerated since 2003, raising fears that the region may have passed one of the "tipping points" in global warming. In this scenario, warmer weather melts ice and drives temperatures higher because the dark water beneath absorbs more of the sun's radiation. This could make global warming quickly run out of control.

-snip-

Experts at the US Naval Postgraduate School in California think the situation could be even worse. They are about to publish the results of computer simulations that show the current rate of melting, combined with increased access for warmer Pacific water, could make the summertime Arctic ice-free within a decade. Dr Meier said: "For 800,000 to a million years, at least some of the Arctic has been covered by ice throughout the year. That's an indication that, if we are heading for an ice-free Arctic, it's a really dramatic change and something that is unprecedented almost within the entire record of human species."
-snip-
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are you prepared for a cat. 6 storm or event?

[SheilaT]

1. For what it's worth,

there's no such thing as a Category 6 storm. Not that they couldn't decide to create such a category if storms started getting consistently at the high end of Cat. 5, which currently is 155 mph and on up. A brief google search shows that the maximum wind gust ever recorded was 190 mph. But hurricane strength is based on sustained winds.

[donsu]

3. I know there isn't a cat 6 but there will be a cat 6 storm or event

they think the artic will be melted in 10 yrs.

we can't even picture that as no one has ever seen the artic without ice and snow.

we can't picture where all that melted water will go and what will happen when it gets there. as it's getting there NOW.

shouldn't the entire world's attention be on this!!!!!

[slackmaster]

5. Not sure about that - Last time was ~125,000 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eem

[neoblues]

2. The real question: have any spare winter clothes?

Have any spare winter clothes to send to Britain and other countries in the region? Once all that meltwater--fresh water moves out of the North Sea into the Atlantic and causes the great circulation engine of the ocean to stop... They'll be seeing weather like Greenland or New Foundland, Canada (where it gets above freezing maybe three months of the year), because they're dependent upon the Gulf Sream of warm equatorial waters to moderate their climates. That "engine" also helps to cool the oceans, and even a one degree rise in ocean temperatures is likely to result in much more powerful hurricanes...

I know most people know that and could explain it even more accurately, but for those who don't understand--aside from a modest reference to Global Warming, why it's important, that's my take on what the experts have answered as to why.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Sounds about right

You send us your warm clothes and we reciprocate with T shirts etc. We freeze and the USA turns in a dustbowl. Time to break out the Model A Ford and hack south. That is of course assuming the border guards of South American countries will let you in !

Once upon a time England was under miles of ice and believe it or not the land is still recoverimg and rising, very slowly, from the sheer pressure of that ice.