Saturday June 28, 2008
Sky News[/align]
The North Pole could melt entirely and be ice free this summer for the first time in history, researchers in the region have said. Recent forecasts suggested the first ice-free summer in the area would happen after 2013, but the latest updates have shown a dramatic deterioration and climate change has been blamed on the rising arctic temperatures.
"We're actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time," David Barber from the University of Manitoba told National Geographic from his Canadian research icebreaker. The scientists have found the ice around the Pole to be what is known as annual or first-year ice. Less robust than older ice, it is much more likely to melt when the weather warms.
Fresh warnings have also emerged from scientists from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Centre. "This year there is a lot of young ice. There's always some, but this year there's a lot," researcher Andy Mahoney said. "There were some people who were saying last year was a rogue year. If the same thing happens again a lot more people are going to be persuaded about the consequences of global warming. A lot of people think it's a very small change in temperature. This shows that the change in sea ice is quite a dramatic consequence."
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Of course Global Warming is just a scam dreamt up by politicians to tax us more - the North Pole melting is just perfectly normal...
