The future is next week (3)

We don't need to argue about whether the record-breaking changes in the extent of the Arctic ice pack are because of climate change to try to understand what impact these developments will have. Whether we can do anything about the causes behind the changes in the Arctic ice is an important discussion, sure. My own view is based on the science, so for me, climate change is the driver of much of the new stuff that's going on in the north, and what's going on in the north is what's happening right now. This is not some distant idea of future climate change. Today, and every day until sometime in the next week or two, a new record is being set. The future is still just next week.

The Greenland icecap just visible on the horizon, near Sisimiut. (Photo copyright Richard Langlais)

The future is next week (2)

As we know, the Arctic is melting more almost every year, and breaking all the records. It's a pity that debates about whether or not it is because of man-made climate change or not are blocking any broader public discussion of these new conditions. OK, other things are also blocking that discussion -- the financial crisis, the financial crisis and the financial crisis --but these hard times will move on, and meanwhile the effect of changes in the Arctic will continue to ripple through our societies, financial crisis, or not. Changes in the ocean currents that affect our weather, advances in shipping over the top of Siberia, shifts in the ranges of difference species; these are already significant enough. And those are just a few examples. Nobody really knows how it will affect the Gulf Stream. The uncertainty is making me nervous . . .

To see where the future of the Arctic is heading, today, and every day, you can check out:
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

No more icecap in this part of Greenland, the coast near Sisimiut (Photo copyright Richard Langlais)

The future is next week (1)

The ice is melting faster and faster. The Arctic Ocean is changing fast. Sometime around the middle of September, there will be less ice "up there" than there's been in about 4,000 years. Let's leave the whole climate change debate out of this, for now. Let's just look at this observable change. If you look at that, you can just say, "The ice covering the Arctic Ocean is changing fast." And then you can try to understand what that means. Today, and every day until sometime in the next week or two, a new record in that melting-back is being set. Climate change seems distant, far away in the future. For the Arctic, the future is next week.

To read about the last time such melting occurred, probably about 4000 years ago, you could read this post:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092181811100097X

Near Sisimiut, Greenland (Photo copyright Richard Langlais)