The global warming trend has accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic permafrost, triggering a positive feedback loop which is warming the oceans; which, in turn, will melt more of the Earth's remaining freshwater ice sheets. The resultant warming trend will affect climates in northern mid-latitudes, including North America, as part of a cycle which is unlikely to reverse direction.
These are the main findings of an international team of scientists monitoring several data points for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Arctic Report Card. The report card's 2010 update observes "many indications of warming" impacting biology, ocean, and land, and "consistent evidence of warming" in Greenland, summer sea ice, and the Arctic climate. The conclusion of these findings is that a "Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely."
While it's true that the earth's concurrent orbital eccentricity and obliquity cycles affect the Arctic's winter temperature, allowing the formation of ice sheets, it is the Arctic's summer temperature that determines the seasonal longevity of the ice sheet. As geophysical sciences professor Dr. David Archer explained in a public lecture Friday night, the increasing amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is staving off the possibility of a trigger event, historically a cold summer precipitated by a drop in CO2, for a next ice age to be realized.
Any attempt to summarize the full canon of climate study would be a disservice both to readers and to the data itself. Readers interested in such a summary would be well informed by reading Dr. Archer's book, The Long Thaw, as a primer for understanding the full import of the NOAA report card update.
©2010 Jim Hathaway for Gather.com
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Comments: 23
Boycott any MAINSCREAM media that still spreads the CO2 "unstoppable warming-IPCC" mistake and fear mongering. It's criminal to frighten children like this any longer. The 24 years of failed warnings, doubts and Disco Science and fear mongering and needless panic and expense have caught up with the criminal media, scientists, environMENTALists and unfortunately, us progressives.
Climate change was to science and media what abusive priests are to religion.
WARNING: If you are still believing voters will vote yes for taxes to make the weather colder, YOU are the new denier.
Birth Control, not Climate Control.
System Change, not Climate Change.
Boycott the irresponsible media.
Btw, you are completely wrong. The National Academy of Sciences has just issued a report that we are already beginning to see the impacts of climate change. No surprise, though. The head federal firefighter said as much three or four years ago.
Population control is but one of the real solutions, but stopping CO2 emissions is a must.
I agree about boycotting irresponsible media. When do you ever hear in any media outlet that no major scientific organization worldwide disputes the IPCC reports on anthropogenic climate change? Not one!
Samurai Dipstick: You're probably too stupid to understand this, but ridiculing science won't make it go away.
Meme mine: I don't think you have any idea of what you're talking about. But that's OK... neither does anyone else.
A new(ish) report published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that sea level rise is not solely down to ice cap melt but ground water extraction is a major contributor. We are empltying the aquifers, draining the rivers and lakes and lowering the water table.
more info on water shortage here
Funny how one little thing you get involved with can change your life view so dramatically.
Anyway, thanks for this. Good information and good writing.
But the next ice age will come right on schedule. The current Holocene Interglacial (interglacial is a warm stretch between ice ages) is essentially over. The last interglacial (Eemian Interglacial) - about125,000 years ago - was way way hotter than today. It ended. ALL interglacials come to an end, and then it is 90,000 years of ice age(glacial) before the next warm spell.
Please look at the charts/graphs from the Vostok Ice Cores. The picture tells the story. See the patterns ??