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U.S. scientific panel warns of growing threat due to melting ice in

Arctic

12:20 AM EDT Aug 24

WASHINGTON (AP) - The rate of ice melting in the Arctic is

increasing and a panel of researchers says it sees no natural

process that is likely to change that trend. Within a century, the

melting could lead to summertime ice-free ocean conditions not seen

in the area in a million years, the group said Tuesday.

 

Melting of land-based glaciers could take much longer but could

raise the sea levels, potentially affecting coastal regions

worldwide.

 

And changes to the permafrost could undermine buildings, drain water

into bogs and release additional carbon into the atmosphere.

 

" What really makes the Arctic different from the rest of the non-

polar world is the permanent ice in the ground, in the ocean, and on

land, " said Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona and

chairman of the National Science Foundation's Arctic System Science

Committee that issued the report.

 

" We see all of that ice melting already, and we envision that it

will melt back much more dramatically in the future, as we move

towards this more permanent ice-free state, " Overpeck said in a

statement.

 

The panel's findings were published in Tuesday's issue of Eos, the

weekly newspaper of the American Geophysical Union.

 

The report comes just days after environmental ministers and

officials from 23 countries met in Greenland to call on governments

to stop arguing over global warming and start acting.

 

That session was held in the town of Ilulissat, near the edge of the

Sermeq Kujalleq glacier that has retreated nearly 11 kilometres

since 1960 and has become a symbol of fears that the planet is

approaching a dangerous warming.

 

The report was issued following a weeklong meeting of scientists

that examined how the Arctic environment and climate interact and

how that system would respond as global temperatures rise.

 

In the past, Arctic climate has included glacial periods with ice

sheets extending into North America and Europe, and other times of

relative warming.

 

After studying how various parts of the climate system interact, the

researchers said there are two major feedback systems influencing

the region: ocean circulation in the North Atlantic and the amount

of precipitation and evaporation that takes place.

 

Feedback can accelerate changes in the system, they said. For

example, the white sea ice reflects solar radiation back into space,

but as the ice melts the dark water will absorb some of the light,

warming and melting more ice.

 

The scientists said they did not see any natural mechanism that

could stop the loss of ice.

 

" I think probably the biggest surprise of the meeting was that no

one could envision any interaction between the components that would

act naturally to stop the trajectory to the new system, " Overpeck

said.

 

In addition to sea and land ice melting, Overpeck said that the

frozen soil layer called permafrost will melt and eventually

disappear in some areas. That could release additional greenhouse

gases stored in the permafrost for thousands of years, he said.

 

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On the Net:

 

American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.

 

a blinding flash

hotter than the sun

dead bodies lie across the path

the radiation colors the air

finishing one by one