This animated series of graphics, unfortunately, needs no commentary:
http://nsidc.org/sotc/sea_ice_animation.html
I saw similar graphics from the National Arctic Ice Data Center in an article in the FT that is in the url below:
“September 2007 was the first time in living memory that the entire Northwest Passage was open water from east to west. In 2008, despite slightly more ice, a record six private yachts transited the historic waterway, and this year's traffic could beat that number.”
It is all quite somber reading:
“Scientists, some of whom predict the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer of 2037, warn there is a multiplier effect at work. Much of the ice that melted in recent years was thick ice that had accumulated over many years. But while much of the ice-free area this summer will freeze over in winter, that ice will be fragile and break up more easily next summer.”
Have a good weekend.
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther/
COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN
Oil quest heats up in Arctic Canada
By Cameron Dueck on the Bering Sea,
904 words
16 July 2009
Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f5858ba-7153-11de-a821-00144feabdc0.html
or
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2009/07/melting-ice-threatens-polar-life.html
