Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Al Gore: 7 years left on the polar ice cap

Last September 21st, as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented alarm that the north polar icecap is, in their words, falling off a cliff. One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as seven years -- seven years from now.
So, if you were going to visit, now would be a good time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well here's the latest and greatest from cloud expert Jen Kay during her television debut at the American Geophysical Union meeting this week

http://www.livescience.com/environment/071212-arctic-clouds.html

Apparently she was also asked by a reporter what she felt about the the prospects of her unborn children.

Anyway, so clouds just disappeared due to a high pressure over the region, which increased insolation and melted the ice. Pretty cool stuff. But it may all be controlled by decadal scale pressure oscillations (in particular the Arctic Oscillation), so my money is on the trends reversing, at least in the short term.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the Arctic won't turn black, but maybe not as soon as good 'ol Al expects, which may hurt rather than help his case with the public.

I think you need to set up a bookie blog enabling the transfer of funds on the likelihood on any particular natural disaster happening, e.g. the doorman to your building needing to move up a floor.