The Arctic is now an ISLAND of Ice, well maybe Not.
A closeup of the latest sea ice concentration around the Northwest Passage. Image courtesy of the University of Bremen.
NASA satellite images taken last week now show that the Arctic has become an island for the first time in man's history as both the north-west and north-east-passages have been opened due to melting ice, according to the Telegraph article.
Strong words........
Prof Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in the US said the images suggested the Arctic may have entered a "death spiral" caused by global warming.
UPDATE
Andrew Revkin of the New York Times posted a blog yesterday disputes this story. According to Revkin, the National Ice Center operated by the Navy, says flatly that the satellites are misreading conditions in many spots and that there is too much ice in a critical spot along the Russian coast to allow anything but ice-hardened ships to get through. Here is the article. Mark Serreze of the NSIDC also concurred with this information.
Another Ice shelf breaks away
The 4,500 year old 50 sq/m Markham Ice shelf in Canada has broken completely away from Ellesmere Island and drifted into the Arctic Ocean, according to the Canwest News Service. The break up occurred in early August, which leaves just 4 Canadian Arctic ice shelves intact.
