North pole could be ice-free this summer
April 27th, 2008 by Jim JustThe WWF is warning that the pace at which both the Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet are melting has “severely accelerated” and could bring about rapid and unstoppable change in the world’s natural systems.
WWF isn’t alone in its fears. Arctic scientists are preparing for that possibility that this year, for the first time, the Arctic ice cap will melt completely, leaving a vast expanse of water.
A number of factors have this year led to most of the Arctic ice being thin and vulnerable as it enters its summer melting season. In September 2007, Arctic sea ice reached a record low, opening up the Northwest passage running from Greenland to Alaska.
While the ice expanded again over the winter and in March 2008 covered a greater area than it had in March 2007, most of the Arctic ice is now thin, young ice.
Here’s a sequence of satellite images of Arctic ice this past fall and winter showing how fluid the Arctic ice cap is, even in the depths of winter. The sequence runs in a continuous loop from October 01, 2007, to March 15, 2008.
You can actually watch the old, thick ice being flushed out. What’s really amazing is how the world looks alive – it’s the Gaia hypothesis visualized.
A high-resolution video file is also available.
Note the stream of multi-year ice flowing out of the Arctic basin down the east coast of Greenland at one o’clock in the image. As of the middle of March, most of the basin, including the pole itself, appears to be covered only by seasonal ice.