Climate change is a topic well covered at BooMan Tribune. Steven D has treated us to many great posts on the topic, the latest – I think – was this story a few days ago; Here Yesterday, Gone Today. He quoted from an article in The Guardian which was describing the alarming rate of melting of the Arctic ice cap this summer season:
The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at record lows, scientists have announced.
Experts say they are “stunned” by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as the UK disappearing in the last week alone.
So much ice has melted this summer that the Northwest passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the Northeast passage along Russia’s Arctic coast could open later this month.
If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030.
Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver, said: “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.”
The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began thirty years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002.
Dr Serreze said: “If you asked me a couple of years ago when the Arctic could lose all of its ice then I would have said 2100, or 2070 maybe. But now I think that 2030 is a reasonable estimate. It seems that the Arctic is going to be a very different place within our lifetimes, and certainly within our childrens’ lifetimes.”
That is quite unnerving. If you follow this link at Sietch Blog and scroll down a little, you will find some very illuminating images on what has transpired over the last few years. They also state:
It is not just polar bears that will be effected by an ice free arctic, although they most certainly will. All that fresh water could disrupt global sea currents that rely on cold salty water to flow, which could in turn effect weather all over the planet (and not in a good way).
In other words, there is little comfort in the fact that the melting of the Arctic ice cap will not cause sea level rise (since it floats in the ocean). You see, the change in sea water salinity and temperature as the ice melts will cause a change in the major ocean currents:
As this fresh water collects it will slow down the sinking of the salty cold water (because the water will be warmer and fresher), and may stop the conveyor belt altogether. If this happens the wind currents that used to pick up warm moist air from the gulf stream currents (the ones that keep the UK warm) might start to pick up cold air. This could have the effect of freezing out parts of Northern Europe. Meanwhile the heat that the current used to take away from the tropics would stay put causing the tropics to burn. Check out this animation to see what I mean.
So global warming can both effect the strength of wind currents, as well as the temperature of wind currents. Making our climate less predictable, and a lot less pleasant. I hope this helps you understand the link between the temperature of our planet and the wind currents.
And then today, this article in The Guardian (which excellently covers climate change issues):
Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes
The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off.
Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise and make predictions this February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change far too low.
The glacier at Ilulissat, which supposedly spawned the iceberg that sank the Titantic, is now flowing three times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago.
(my bold – please read the whole article)
So – we are in for a double whammy – both the Arctic ice cap and the Greenland ice cap melting away at record speed, with unpredictable consequences.
How many more wake-up calls for our politicians to take decisive action?
