Arctic melt 20 years ahead of climate models

[XemaSab]

Though scientists tend to agree that summer ice at the North Pole will eventually disappear, they haven't settled on a date. And one group now claims to have evidence that Santa may have to start swimming much sooner than we thought.

US researchers claim to have found evidence that accelerated melting has crossed a "tipping point" from which there is no going back.

The amount of summer ice at the North Pole has steadily declined since 1979, according to satellite images. Computer models predict that this trend will continue, leaving the Arctic completely ice-free during the summersas early as 2030.

In 2007, though, the ice surprised everyone by contracting far more rapidly than the models predicted. A particularly warm summer left only 4.28 million square kilometres by September - a record 23% below the previous minimum.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16307-arctic-melt-20-years-ahead-of-climate-models.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Everybody talks about the Arctic, but what about the Antarctic?

That's the big shoe. When it drops, we're screwn.

[kestrel91316]

2. Well they say that it will take centuries to melt Antarctica. I tend to think

it won't take over 100. The models are completely broken. We have sailed into Terra Incognita.

[guardian]

3. "The models are completely broken."

Finally--we agree.

[Nihil]

4. The difference is that Kestrel is concerned about that possibility ...

... whereas you are gleefully cheering as the tilt of the slope increases.

:eyes:

[guardian]

7. just bemused by the

pervasive tilting at the windmill of global warming

[Viking12]

5. self-delete

[JohnWxy]

6. Recommended.