Russia's Environmental Agency - Arctic Ice Extent Already Below 2007 Record Lows, Going Fast

[hatrack]

uly 20 (Bloomberg) -- Arctic sea ice is melting faster than expected and this season’s loss may match the record reached three years ago, Russia’s environmental agency said.

“Ice in the Arctic is melting very fast,” Federal Hydrometeorological and Environmental Monitoring Service chief Alexander Frolov said today.

The latest figures show that Arctic Ocean ice covered about 10.8 million kilometers in June, less than at the same time in 2007, when the pack eventually shrank to an all-time low, Frolov told reporters in Moscow. The record low was reached on Sept. 16, 2007, when the so called Arctic sea ice extent shrank to 4.14 million square kilometers (1.63 million miles), according to the National Snow and Data Center in the U.S.

The so-called Arctic sea ice extent may fall as much as 30 percent below the average from 1979-2000, according to Frolov. “This means that many waterways will be ice-free,” he said.

EDIT

Ed. - emphasis added for XemaSab!

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-20/arctic-ice-melting-fast-may-reach-all-time-low-russia-says.html

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, hatrack.

[DCBob]

2. I have been watching the data from NSIDC and for sure its low.. though not quite below 2007 levels..

at this moment..



It was melting rapidly earlier in the summer then slowed but now it looks like it starting to melt rapidly again. I suspect it will be another record low by the end of the season. Yet the idiot deniers just laugh it off and keep on denying. Fools.

[hatrack]

3. They may be talking about ice extent on the Russian side of the basin?

Not sure, though . . .

[DCBob]

4. Possibly.. They also are probably using a different techinique for calculating this..

Regardless its very low. The mainstream media probably wont even mention this.

[pscot]

5. Americans are bored

with the issue.

[XemaSab]

6. .