Arctic sea ice could break apart completely at the North Pole this year, allowing ships to sail over the normally frozen top of the world.



The potential landmark thaw - the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free - is a stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web site of the The Independent, a London newspaper.


"Symbolically it is hugely important," said Mark Serreze of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. "There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water."


Last year, the fabled Northwest Passage opened as Arctic ice retreated more than ever before.


There is no land at the North Pole, but as long as anyone has looked, it has remained a giant block of ice year-round. Scientists have been watching Arctic sea ice melt more and more each year. But each summer in recent years, the amount of ice has gotten thinner and thinner. Each winter's freeze, therefore, results in a thinner pack that, this summer, could melt altogether.


"The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice," Serreze is quoted by The Independent. "I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out."


Russia and other countries, meanwhile, have been arguing over who has rights to the region's resources, including potential oil reserves.


Several studies in recent years have predicted that the North Pole could be ice-free within a few decades. Alarm has ratcheted up every summer as the ice gets thinner and thinner. In a study released June 10, scientist said the rapid meltoff in the Arctic could threaten permafrost in continental soil elsewhere above the Arctic circle in a warm version of the snowball effect.


Last summer saw a record melt of Arctic sea ice, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its average. Around the peak of the melt, in September, air temperatures over land in the western Arctic from August to October were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the 1978-2006 average.


"The rapid loss of sea ice can trigger widespread changes that would be felt across the region," said Andrew Slater, also of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.



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http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080627/sc_livescience/northpolecouldbeicefreethissummer

I would be interested to know how much damage the US have done with their Shuttles and Rockets constantly punching its way through the ozone...We wouldnt need to find a potential other planet to live on if they would stop destroying this one...

Excellent read.Thx!4 the link also.

I always knew you and I belong to Mars there is water there so you wont miss your showers and I can water the garden

i bet the titanic passengers wish there was no ice up there

my bad

my bad

yeah i know

grant me the .....

There is a volcano under the Arctic Ice. It has been monitored since 1999 when it began to cause serious tremors and begun shooting heated CO2 directly through the ice caps.

Man-Made Global Warming is a hoax, a sham. Just like Al Gore seeks to get extremely wealthy off of it, so does Obama and his camp, who will be his Presidential advisors, who are VERY closely linked to the inefficent Ethanol Industry.

Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html


And, new reports as to why the Arctic Ice is melting. Interesting that the same isn't happening in the Antarctic, which has seen the largest buildup of ice?

There are VOLCANOES under the Arctic Ice Caps! And, since 1999 they have been erupting and causing large tremors to shake and break the Arctic Ice Cap apart.

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn14203-arctic-volcanoes-exploded-at-impossible-depth.html?feedId=earth_rss20

Volcanic Eruptions Under the Sea: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_SciTech&set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=nw20080626090726755C484155

Volcanic eruptions fire Arctic ice bottoms: http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/Science/20080626/984482.html

Um... I'll have to go with zero damage. The ozone layer is a layer of O3 gas on the outside of the atmosphere which deflects harmful rays from the sun. If a rocket went though it, it would just go back to how it was before, like running your hand though water, it wouldn't leave a hole behind. Damage to the ozone layer is done when other chemicals react with O3 to convert it into something else.

Starsailor - Thank you!

Anyway, a few years back the scientific community realized the whole "Ozone Hole" thing is actually a cyclic natural phenomenon. Kinda like how El Nino is. Not the best comparison, but it gives you an idea. And that the so called Hole was closing up itself. In the time they saw that it was 'healing' itself, the world hadn't really done enough to accutally make that a factor in the improvement.