Canadian Ice Service Director - 40-Year Veterans Of Service "Have Never Seen Anything Like This" -

[hatrack]

The giant Ayles Ice Island south of the North Pole has broken in two, one of several "remarkable" occurrences in a year that has seen a record-shattering retreat of the Arctic ice.

"We have people here in the ice service with over 40 years experience and they're all stunned," says Doug Bancroft, head of the Canadian Ice Service, of the behaviour of Arctic ice this summer. "They've never seen anything like this."

The break-up of the ice island last month was just one of several highlights of a season that also saw the Northwest Passage open up for the second year in a row.

EDIT

The Arctic ice is changing -- and melting -- much faster than climate models predicted, Bancroft said. "If you look at what happened in the last three years, it closely resembles the absolutely worst-case scenario, but about 20, 25 years ahead of schedule," he says, referring to models created by international teams of scientists to predict the impact of global warming on the north. They had forecast the Arctic could be free of summer ice as early as 2050.

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=9564ee29-531d-4ffb-92f4-a15dfbbb6a55

[Double T]

1. The acceleration of the affects of global warming are apparent all around 'US'........

What will it take to BEFORE humans start to be INDIVIDUALLY RESPONSIBLE and drastically alter their lifestyles, behaviors and actions?

[HereSince1628]

4. A lot more, very unfortunately.

[Delphinus]

5. Obviously.

We've been seeing this acceleration for the past three years, at least, and still the American public, for the large part, is walking around with their heads in the clouds.

[kestrel91316]

2. "....worst-case scenario, but about 20, 25 years ahead of schedule..."

[GliderGuider]

3. The Canadian Ice Service scientist I heard speak last week was stunned by this

He has 30 years in, so he'd be one of the guys Bancroft was talking about. I've never seen a scientist so shocked and concerned.

[Delphinus]

6. Was this at a meeting

or a one-to-one conversation? Just curious if he shared anything that might shed some hope in the matter.

[GliderGuider]

7. He gave a lecture at work.

During the talk he said, "We scientists have recently discovered a lot of positive feedback loops that speed up ice cap melting, like albedo changes and methane releases from melting tundra. Unfortunately, none of us know of any negative feedback loops that might slow it down." He was intensely pessimistic, and said the Arctic had passed a tipping point.

I spoke to him after the talk one on one, and he specifically said he didn't think anything could stop it now.

[ramapo]

8. Might be a bad message

As a lay person who has read much on the subject, I couldn't agree more.

However, I imagine the message that nothing can stop the feedback loops in motion might only encourage the continued no-holds-barred attitude on resource consumption and use of fossil fuels.

Kind of like if you know you're going to die, you might as well party hard until the end.

[GliderGuider]

9. I've heard that objection

However, I've never seen it play out that way. The over-consumers are still the ones who haven't got it yet. Everyone I know who has woken up to the severity of the problem is frantically doing everything they can to cut their consumption and waste production. Like in every other aspect of life, education helps people make better choices. Even when the education tells them they can't fix one thing, they start looking around for things they can fix. When they learn that some problems can actually become unsolvable, they also realize that other untended problems may likewise become unfixable, and start working to prevent that.

[hatrack]

10. Somebody asked me once why I always see the hole in the donut

The answer, of course, was simple: because the donut has a hole in it.