Arctic Ice Melt 2012 - Breaks All Records - Total Collapse by 2016?

Map shows summer 2012 Arctic sea ice extent compared with the
average minimum extent over the past 30 years, in yellow. Credit: NASA

NEW YORK — Experts warned of a "planetary emergency" due to the
unforeseen global consequences of Arctic ice melt, including methane gas
released from permafrost regions currently under ice.

Columbia University and the environmental activist group Greenpeace held separate
events Wednesday to discuss US government data showing that the Arctic
sea ice has shrunk to its smallest surface area since record-keeping
began in 1979.



Satellite images show the Arctic ice cap melted to
1.32 million square miles (3.4 million square kilometers) as of
September 16, the predicted lowest point for the year, according to data
from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.


Photo - NOAA

"Between 1979 and 2012, we have a decline of 13 percent per decade in the sea
ice, accelerating from six percent between 1979 and 2000," said
oceanographer Wieslaw Maslowski with the US Naval Postgraduate School,
speaking at the Greenpeace event.
"If this trend continues we will not have sea ice by the end of this decade," said Maslowski.

A complete collapse of the Arctic sea ice has been predicted by some
leading scientists to occur within four years. Professor Peter Wadhams,
of Cambridge University, said this collapse is “happening now” and by 2015-16 a total collapse will occur.

While these figures are worse than the early estimates they come as no
surprise to scientists, said NASA climate expert James Hansen, who also
spoke at the Greenpeace event.

"We are in a planetary emergency," said Hansen, decrying "the gap between what is understood by scientific
community and what is known by the public."


http://climatecommunication.org/

Scientists say the earth's climate has been warming because carbon dioxide and other
human-produced gases hinder the planet's reflection of the sun's heat
back into space, creating a greenhouse effect.

Environmentalists warn that a string of recent extreme weather events around the globe,
including deadly typhoons, devastating floods and severe droughts, show
urgent action on emission cuts is needed
The loss of Arctic ice is
massively compounding the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, Cambridge University Ice Scientist Professor Peter Wadhams warns.

White ice reflects more sunlight than open water, acting like a parasol.

Melting of white Arctic ice, currently at its lowest level in recent history, is causing more absorption.

Professor Wadhams calculates this absorption of the sun's rays is
having an effect "the equivalent of about 20 years of additional CO2
being added by man".The sea ice extent at 26 August (white) is markedly different from the 1979-2000 average (orange line)

The Cambridge University expert says that the Arctic ice cap is "heading for oblivion".

The extreme weather include the drought and heat waves that struck the United States in the summer.
One consequence of the melt is the slow but continuous rise in the ocean level that threatens coastal areas.

Another result is the likely release of large amounts of methane -- a
greenhouse gas -- trapped in the permafrost under Greenland's ice cap,
the remains of the region's organic plant and animal life that were
trapped in sediment and later covered by ice sheets in the last Ice Age.

Methane is 25 times more efficient at trapping solar heat than carbon dioxide,
and the released gases could in turn add to global warming, which in
turn would free up more locked-up carbon.
"The implications are enormous," said environmentalist Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, a global non-governmental organization focused on solving the climate crisis.

For Peter Schlosser, an expert with the Earth Institute at Columbia
University, the impact of the polar ice cap melt is hard to determine
because "the Arctic is likely to respond rapidly and more severely than
other part of the Earth. "The effects of human induced global change are more
and more visible and larger impacts are expected for the future," he said.

Why does this not surprise me?
Some see the Arctic melt as a business opportunity -- a chance to reach the
oil and gas riches under the seabed, and a path for ships to shorten the
distance between ports and saving time and fuel.
According to the US Geological Survey, within the Arctic Circle there are some 90
million barrels of oil -- 13 percent of the planet's undiscovered oil
reserves and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas.
The potential bounty that has encouraged energy groups like Royal Dutch Shell Co. to invest heavily in the region.

Greenpeace International head Kumi Naidoo says that oil companies have thwarted
governments from taking action to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
"Why our governments don't take action? Because they have been captured by
the same interests of the energy industry," Naidoo said.

Anne Siders, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Center for
Climate Change Law, warned against the "temptation" of sending ships
through the area.
The new shipping lanes are dangerous to use
because there are plenty of ice floes and little infrastructure for help
in case of an accident -- which in turn increases the insurance costs.

Another consequence of global warming is that, as the oceans warm, more
cold-water fish move north, "which means more fish will be taken out of
their ecosystem," said Siders.