Sunday June 03, 2007

Arctic sea ice melting at faster rate than projected

greencarcongress.com -> ucar.edu :

Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments, according to a new study by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

The study indicates that, because of the disparity between the computer models and actual observations, the shrinking of summertime ice is about 30 years ahead of the climate model projections. As a result, the Arctic could be seasonally free of sea ice earlier than the IPCC-projected timeframe of any time from 2050 to well beyond 2100.

The Arctic is especially sensitive to climate change partly because regions of sea ice, which reflect sunlight back into space and provide a cooling impact, are disappearing. In contrast, darker areas of open water, which are expanding, absorb sunlight and increase temperatures. This feedback loop has played a role in the increasingly rapid loss of ice in recent years, which accelerated to 9.1% per decade from 1979 to 2006 according to satellite observations.

See also :

1. Arctic dreams
2. Scientists shocked as Arctic polar route emerges
3. Polar bears drown, islands appear in Arctic thaw
4. Scramble to unlock Arctic's energy potential
5. Arctic meltdown = oil, shipping & fish

(2007-06-03 23:35:07 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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