Obama Administration Rules Against Polar Bears
The polar bear was declared a threatened species in May, 2008, because of its melting sea-ice habitat. The rule now being retained by the Obama administration was finalized under Bush in December and served to limit the protection of the bear, saying no action outside the Arctic region could be considered a threat to the bear under the law
UN Climate Change Panel’s Fatal Procrastination
The IPCC is currently starting to outline its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) which will be finalized in 2014. We simply don’t have the luxury of waiting another 5 years for the next major assessment of climate science, impacts, and mitigation.
Arctic Global Warming Spike Imminent (Updated, December 29, 2009)
The respected UK Met Office Hadley Centre has put up some striking maps on Google Earth Outreach: Environment and Science. The one showing projected temperature increase in the Arctic region by next year is surprising and very alarming.
Dangerous Climate Change In the Arctic is Dangerous for the Whole World
The danger is that if too much methane is released, the world will get hotter no matter how drastically we slash our greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies suggest that emissions from melting permafrost could be far greater than once thought. And, although it is too early to be sure, some suspect this scenario is already starting to unfold: after remaining static for the past decade, methane levels have begun to rise again, and the source could be Arctic permafrost.
Climate change causing faster ice melt, on both poles
Icecaps around the North and South Poles are melting faster and in a more widespread manner than expected, raising sea levels and fuelling climate change, a major scientific survey from the International Polar Year (IPY) showed, February 25, 2009.
Is another record-breaking loss of Arctic sea-ice due this summer?
Arctic freezing may have stalled and the annual melt may begin earlier. The summer ice extent could shrink to a new record low in 2009, even if the National Weather Service’s prediction of weak la Niña conditions through early summer hold true. This will amplify an already existing dangerous feedback loop driven by the loss of reflectivity of the ice surface. In the Arctic, it’s already too hot.
Where’s the Worst Possible Place for Hot Weather?
While the permafrost warming may well be the biggest story to come out of the annual global temperature reports, needless to say the media have ignored that story as far as I can tell. They have also ignored the now clear evidence that the 2000s are easily the hottest decade in recorded history and instead focused has been almost exclusively on where 2008 ranks among recent years temperature-wise.
The Arctic is in “Hot” Water
Scientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen.
Climate-change researchers have found that air temperatures in the region are higher than would be normally expected during the autumn because the increased melting of the summer Arctic sea ice is accumulating heat in the ocean. The phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years and the findings will further raise concerns that the Arctic has already passed the climatic tipping-point towards ice-free summers, beyond which it may not recover.
