Polar Meltdown Update

"These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present"

Greetings

On the hoof at present so this is very much on the fly, but here are the latest on the meltdown of the Arctic. Together with the happy news that the amount of greenhouse gases likely to be released by thawing tundra is twice as much as has been previously estimated, and may release twice the amounts currently in the atmosphere.


1 ENN: Lowest ever sea ice in Arctic - 15 September

This story relates how it is now touch and go that this summer's minimum will be even lower than last year's, and thus the lowest ever recorded. That measure relates to the surface area, important for the albedo effect, survival of the polar bears etc. Perhaps more importantly for the continuation of the Arctic, the article also reports that the volume of ice is now almost certainly at the lowest ever known.


2 ISF: Permafrost: Frozen Organic Carbon Might be a Bigger Threat Than Previously Thought - 15 September

'Scientists say the amount of greenhouse gases released by widespread thawing of permafrost could be equivalent to twice the current amount of CO2 in the world's atmosphere.'


Enough said. There are links to a short paper on the major international study that has reached that conclusion.



3 New Scientist: Massive Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Away - 03 September


Chillingly, this article is documents the end of a era in geological terms, as it details the terminal and irreversible break up of the Arctic ice shelves together with the loss of unique and unstudied ecosystems, never to return. All happening in your lifetime...

If you are looking for evidence that things are happening faster than predicted, the loss of ice from Ellesmere Island this summer was ten times the scientific estimates made as recently as 30 July this year.

Of its original 9000 sq kms, only 800 kms remain.



That's all for now. Happily it seems to bring things up to date, on a quick browse.


All the best