Polar warming, hot time in the Arctic Ocean

By | June 26, 2008, 10:48pm PDT

Summary: This map of Greenland at end of last year, courtesy NASA. This may the first time in history that the North Pole is open water, not ice. We’ve blogged about the disappearing ice cap on Greenland, and the opening of the northwest passage between the Atlantic and the Bering Sea, across the northern coastline of [...]

greenlandnasa.jpg
This map of Greenland at end of last year, courtesy NASA.

This may the first time in history that the North Pole is open water, not ice. We’ve blogged about the disappearing ice cap on Greenland, and the opening of the northwest passage between the Atlantic and the Bering Sea, across the northern coastline of Canada and Alaska. Now come reports that North Polar ice is so thin it vanish entirely this summer.

Last summer was the ice cap melt around the North Pole was the fastest on record. This summer, so far, it is melting even faster. Care for a North Pole swim?

Current research is uncovering large number sof active underwater volancoes near the North Pole. The scientists say that is not what’s melting the Arctic ice cap, but that volcanic action is pouring plenty of CO2 into the atmosphere and that’s contributing to a warmer climate.

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Harry Fuller

http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?page_id=2

Biography

Harry Fuller

Harry Fuller is a media veteran, having spent decades in TV news in the San Francisco Bay Area. As GeneralManager of KPIX-TV (CBS) he founded one of the nation's first TV station websites in early 1995. He was News Direcor at TechTV when it was founded in 1998. In 2001 he moved to London to become Executive Producer for CNBC Europe. Four years later he returned to San Francisco as Executive Editor for CNET's news.com.

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Sorry, response was meant for John...
jasonp@... 27th Jun 2008
NT
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They're having similar problems on Mars.
Hallowed are the Ori Updated - 27th Jun 2008
Seems the polar ice caps on Mars are warming and thawing as well.

It must be all of those CO2 spewing space probes we've sent there.
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Funny thing is...
jasonp@... 27th Jun 2008
the level of CO2 in the Martian atmosphere is something to the tune of 2376% higher than on Earth. Yes, that is thousands of percentage points. The scientists who have lined up against man-made causes of global warming are really reaching for anything and everything to back up their theory, regardless as to whether there is a reasonable scientific basis for their arguments or not. Kinda using the same tactics they accuse global warming alarmists of. The thing about Mars is that we've got VERY little data to go on. Scientists note that the Martian ice caps have been retreating for 3 years. Scientists were starting to warn of retreating ice caps here on Earth for at least 20 years (NASA "Godfather of Global Warming" scientist James Hansen).

Are fluctuations in solar output to blame for part of the problem? Almost certainly. The problem comes in when that increased output gets trapped in the atmosphere at a higher rate than when CO2 levels are lower.

Is man-made CO2 solely responsible for this probmlem? Almost certainly not. But to go from there to this attitude that man shouldn't be part of the solution is laughable at best.

For years now we've been listening to polticians and pundits from the right stating there is no credible evidence that warming is even taking place, calling anyone who said otherwise a liberal loon. They still laugh at the thought that warming is settled science. They understand that if you can't even agree that a problem exists, you can never take steps to solve it. I can't for the life of me understand why they seem to be seeking the destruction of life on this planet as we know it. Maybe they're hanging their hat on religion saving the day, I don't know. It makes me puke to hear people like Sean Hannity go on national television claiming that global warming is just some big scare tactic of the left. It's time to get politics out of the global warming equation completely. As soon as politics is introduced to a subject, real work ceases completely.
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Sorry, response was meant for John...
jasonp@... 27th Jun 2008
NT

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