Arctic of old is gone, experts warn
Photo caption: Satellite images taken on July 28, left, and Aug. 5, right, shows the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland before and after a 110-square-mile piece of ice broke off. The huge ice island is more than four times the size of New York's Manhattan Island.The Arctic — an area described as Earth's refrigerator because its ice helps keep temperatures cool — continues to warm up and is unlikely to return to earlier conditions, according to an annual report card issued Thursday by top scientists.
Record temperatures across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a reduced summer sea ice cover, (and) record snow cover decreases" were cited as factors supporting the conclusion in the 2010 Arctic Report Card issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The report card "tells a story of widespread, continued and even dramatic effects of a warming Arctic," lead researcher Jackie Richter-Menge, an expert at the federal Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, N.H., told reporters.
"It is increasingly unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, that we will return to previous Arctic conditions," she said. "It is very likely warming will continue" in the Arctic," she added, and "planning is urgent to adapt to the changes coming."
While 2009 saw a slowdown in Arctic warming, the report card stated, "the first half of 2010 shows a near record pace with monthly anomalies of over 4 degrees Centigrade (7 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Canada."
Past report cards have also cited warming trends, the scientists acknowledged, but this last year has seen several anomalies: record temperatures in Greenland; the largest recorded loss of ice from a Greenland glacier, a 110-square-mile chunk that broke off Petermann Glacier ; and a 2009-2010 winter that saw a blast of Arctic winds that went north-south instead of west-east — causing a deep freeze across the U.S. Northeast and Midwest.
Record temperatures across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a reduced summer sea ice cover, (and) record snow cover decreases" were cited as factors supporting the conclusion in the 2010 Arctic Report Card issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The report card "tells a story of widespread, continued and even dramatic effects of a warming Arctic," lead researcher Jackie Richter-Menge, an expert at the federal Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, N.H., told reporters.
"It is increasingly unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, that we will return to previous Arctic conditions," she said. "It is very likely warming will continue" in the Arctic," she added, and "planning is urgent to adapt to the changes coming."
While 2009 saw a slowdown in Arctic warming, the report card stated, "the first half of 2010 shows a near record pace with monthly anomalies of over 4 degrees Centigrade (7 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Canada."
Past report cards have also cited warming trends, the scientists acknowledged, but this last year has seen several anomalies: record temperatures in Greenland; the largest recorded loss of ice from a Greenland glacier, a 110-square-mile chunk that broke off Petermann Glacier ; and a 2009-2010 winter that saw a blast of Arctic winds that went north-south instead of west-east — causing a deep freeze across the U.S. Northeast and Midwest.
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