Arctic ice reaches record low

[diveplane]

Arctic sea-ice extent has fallen to its lowest level on record, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. Scientists say that the loss of the reflective ice could result in even warmer surface temperatures on Earth.

 

link below

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0827/Arctic-ice-reaches-record-low-could-worsen-global-warming-video

[manfrez01]

^^This is a complete disaster.

Very sad.

[Pilotasso]

The real disaster beggins when land ice melts also, well have beaches on our doorsteps.

[manfrez01]

The real disaster beggins when land ice melts also, well have beaches on our doorsteps.

Really?

[EtherealN]

 

I'm sure you can see what Pilotasso meant. :)

[Pilotasso]

How much sea rise in that picture?

[Bricks]

Arctic sea-ice extent has fallen to its lowest level on record, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

 

Please note, that "Lowest level on record" means "Lowest for the last 80 years." Observation of the ice-mass on earth's polar caps started 1930 on an irregular basis by fishermen, 1950 on a regular scientific observation.

 

In the middle ages (between 800 and 1300 A.D.) temperatures in the northern hemisphere were 3-7° C warmer than today. Why you think the now ice-covered land between Canada and Iceland is called Greenland?

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for preserving nature and reducing CO2 emissions and stuff. But I hate this panic-making as it's just another way to get clicks and sell newspapers.

[159th_Viper]

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for preserving nature and reducing CO2 emissions and stuff. But I hate this panic-making as it's just another way to get clicks and sell newspapers.

 

Ain't that the truth. I'm no geologist (my wife however is) and it's not all doom and gloom as some purport it to be. Remember that the Ice that is melting is already displacing water in any event - Think of a glass of water filled with ice-cubes. Not to say should the worst occur that there will not be flooding in lower-lying areas - not on the scale that seems to be a common belief though.

[PeterP]

haha...

there is no time any more for "panic-making" ... we did this 15 years ago!

 

(please help me - I'm getting old...: how many Kyoto-protokolls didn't made it to ratification ?)

 

Well - I see also no use in "panic-making".

Its about time to go panic....

- as it is already happening and there is no hope in turning it back any more.

[cichlidfan]

The world is ending in 15 weeks anyway! :D

[159th_Viper]

The world is ending in 15 weeks anyway! :D

 

Frak!

 

Completely forgot about the Mayans!

 

Where's my Bucket-List.........Spectacles useless.....Double-Frak!

[Bricks]

I'm not saying the ice doesn't melt.

 

But mankind won't die because of a sealevel rising 3 meters. If at all, they will because they fight over territories...

 

Earth always changed, just as life does every day. It's our own mindset that thinks we can just go on like we used to do it and things shall always be the same.

 

 

Sadly, this is true for natural changes and human made changes as well.

[Pilotasso]

3 meters is a disaster, for one I will lose my job :(

[PeterP]

Briks - yes you are right... it will not end your life.

But in the long term it will cost the life of many others.

And we are not in the position to judge if mankind will survive - other generations will have a better guess.

(and they will look at us like we look at former generations that believed that earth is a disk - ...talking things down never solved anything)

Edited August 28, 2012 by PeterP

[Razor5-1]

One only has to look at the frequency of natural disasters these days! It's not a case of it'll be ok.

[joey45]

From a website called 'The christian Science Monitor'...........

 

 

p.s. I have Frankie Boyle as an Avatar for a reason...

[HiJack]

3 meters is a disaster, for one I will lose my job :(

Why? Are you serving ice water from the south pole?

 

(HJ)

[PeterP]

no - he lives probably at the coast! :)

[Wolfie]

Cool! Dallas is going to get a beach!

 

The world is ending in 15 weeks anyway!

 

Oh yeah, I forgot we're going to attack Iran. :thumbup:

Edited August 28, 2012 by Wolfie

[Speed]

Ain't that the truth. I'm no geologist (my wife however is) and it's not all doom and gloom as some purport it to be. Remember that the Ice that is melting is already displacing water in any event - Think of a glass of water filled with ice-cubes. Not to say should the worst occur that there will not be flooding in lower-lying areas - not on the scale that seems to be a common belief though.

 

Supposedly it's the thermal expansion of the ocean's waters that does most of the flooding.

 

On the surface, except for the sea level rise, you'd think global warming would be a good thing, wouldn't you? After all, like 15,000 years ago, warming temperatures ended the last glacial period of the current ice age, and made Earth MUCH more habitable. And shouldn't warmer temperatures mean more evaporation, and hence, more rain? There's an established history of warming trends in earth's climate being beneficial to humanity.

 

Also, to someone uneducated about plant life, you'd think having more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be good for plants?

 

However, climatologists love to play the spoil sport- they say more carbon dioxide will acidify the oceans, will not really help plants (plants already have enough), and yes, we'll have more rainfall, but it's supposedly not going to be evenly distributed so we'll get severe droughts in some spots, and severe flooding in others.

 

Every thing you would think would be good about global warming, the climatologists have ways of turning around to make it bad. I wonder what climatologists would say if they were around at the end of the glacial period? Besides the sea level rise (and ocean acidity rise that is supposed to occur, and the deleterious effects that will supposedly cause) why is just a little bit more warming so bad?

 

I'm not saying global warming would be a good thing- the effects on the oceans are bad enough to want to avoid it- but the rest of it- stuff like Great Britain becoming a desert (or depending on who you ask, covered in a glacier), the endless category 5 hurricanes supposedly coming, the monsoons and/or continental dust bowls... it's just a little hard to swallow, especially given the past history of warming trends being beneficial. I think that most likely, the effects are not going to be as severe as that, and some effects may actually be helpful.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Speed

[Bricks]

Briks - yes you are right... it will not end your life.

But in the long term it will cost the life of many others.

And we are not in the position to judge if mankind will survive - other generations will have a better guess.

(and they will look at us like we look at former generations that believed that earth is a disk - ...talking things down never solved anything)

 

 

Very true. But this statement is related to any aspect of life. ;)

[EtherealN]

Why you think the now ice-covered land between Canada and Iceland is called Greenland?

 

"Greenland got its name because its inhabitants sported blue-green skin from living near the sea. At least that's what Adam of Bremen wrote (in Latin) in the eleventh century."

 

"The real story behind the name is given in Erik the Red's Saga, based on oral tradition and written down in the early thirteenth century in Iceland. After the Icelandic landnám was over, Erik the Red and his father Thorvald were forced to leave Norway because one or both of them was involved in killings (details are not given). After Thorvald died, Erik was involved in yet more killings, for which his punishment was three years' vacation--er, I mean banishment from Iceland. (And you thought O. J. got off easy.)

 

He used the time to explore the rumored lands to the west. When his term of banishment expired, he returned to Icleand to invite his neighbors and friends to settle the new country with him. He purposely chose the pleasant name Grænland ("green land") to attract settlers, but the choice wasn't exactly misleading. Some parts of Greenland, especially the parts the Norse settled, really are green, as these pictures from the tourist board attest (www.greenland-guide.dk/outdoor_life_photo.htm)."

 

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1965/shouldnt-greenland-be-known-as-iceland-and-vice-versa

 

Note that only immediately coastal areas around the southern tip of Greenland were ever settled. These areas are at the same latitude (roughly) as Oslo. They are still green and arable in summer.

[Shaman]

Guys, only constant in life is change, this applies to icecaps, coast lines, climate, whatever :) Turn off TV, quit worrying, we will do just fine.

C y'all in next long-count cycle.

[combatace]

Its just warming of earth before the next ice age but that will take another few hundred years.

[EtherealN]

Heard that one before. :)

 

 

 

Personally, I trust the people educated and active in the field, because this subject is way too complicated for a layman like myself.