Retreat A photograph taken in August from an icebreaker research cruise in the Arctic Ocean, about 600 miles north of the Alaska coastline.
Arctic Study A Coast Guard work party in August deploying a buoy that helps scientists track the age of sea ice.
...Complicating the picture, the striking Arctic change was as much a result of ice moving as melting, many say. A new study, led by Son Nghiem at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and appearing this week in Geophysical Research Letters, used satellites and buoys to show that winds since 2000 had pushed huge amounts of thick old ice out of the Arctic basin past Greenland. The thin floes that formed on the resulting open water melted quicker or could be shuffled together by winds and similarly expelled, the authors said.
The pace of change has far exceeded what had been estimated by almost all the simulations used to envision how the Arctic will respond to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to global warming. But that disconnect can cut two ways. Are the models overly conservative? Or are they missing natural influences that can cause wide swings in ice and temperature, thereby dwarfing the slow background warming?...
...and they said the Titantic wouldn't sink either...
Warming in Arctic areas attracts business-seekers (click here)
...But he knows the retreating sea ice creates opportunities for Foss Maritime Co. in Arctic regions, and like other regional companies, Foss is seeking to develop them. McElroy is particularly interested in new petroleum resources that may become accessible if there's more open water off the North Slope of Alaska in the summer.
"The oil development stuff, if it's offshore and onshore, requires tug and barge work and support activities, and that's definitely of interest to Foss," he said. "We're watching that closely."
Others are watching the trend, too. A more accessible Arctic could have broad impact on the Puget Sound economy, spurring demand for supply work and possibly opening new polar shipping routes for cargo....
Like I always said, "Die a billionaire." This is so moronic it lacks morality !
