CAPITALIST INDUCED GLOBAL WARMING: ANOTHER DISTURBING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Today's BBC story about the record shrinkage of arctic sea ice is essential reading. The total area is now down to a little more than four million square kilometers. The shrinkage is down by about 20% since 2005, which was the previous record low for minimum arctic sea ice area.

One researcher refers to a "spiral of death" and the article explains a plausible meteorological mechanism predicting that established feedback mechanisms will accelerate the decline in arctic sea ice. There is no imagined or proposed solution to the problem.

So we may already have a runaway process, the successive shrinkage of the arctic sea ice until there is little or none left.

The destruction of polar sea ice will lead to the destruction of the polar bear. The opening of the
Northwest passage is of course directly related to the record loss of sea ice this September, 2007.

Does a runaway process here in the arctic sea mean that worldwide, similar irreversible processes are starting to dominate our climate and our weather? That is a question upon which the future of the human race depends. Irreversible processes are possible. A crock pot future is
not out of the question, capitalism will have cooked its goose and everyone else's.

Maybe we need to take whatever measures we can to confront this unfolding climatological disaster. We need to study articles like this one by the BBC and try to put together the whole
picture both with respect to meteorology, climatology and social liberation theory.

Of course social liberation has no meaning whatsoever if we are all ultimately roasted by runaway global warming. ____________________________________________________________________




Ice withdrawal 'shatters record'

Arctic sea ice shrank to the smallest area on record this year, US scientists have confirmed.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said the minimum extent of 4.13 million sq km (1.59 million sq miles) was reached on 16 September.

The figure shatters all previous satellite surveys, including the previous record low of 5.32 million sq km measured in 2005.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Northwest Passage was open.

The fabled Arctic shipping route from the Atlantic to the Pacific is normally ice-bound at some location throughout the year; but this year, ships have been able to complete an unimpeded navigation.

'Fast track'

Arctic sea ice loses area in summer months and regrows in the winter cold.

The researchers at NSIDC judge the ice extent on a five-day mean. The minimum for 2007 falls below the minimum set on 20-21 September 2005 by an area roughly the size of Texas and California combined, or nearly five UKs.

Speaking to BBC News on Monday this week, Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the NSIDC, said: "2005 was the previous record and what happened then had really astounded us; we had never seen anything like that, having so little sea ice at the end of summer. Then along comes 2007 and it has completely shattered that old record."

He added: "We're on strong spiral of decline; some would say a death spiral. I wouldn't go that far but we're certainly on a fast track. We know there is natural variability but the magnitude of change is too great to be caused by natural variability alone."

The team will now follow the progress of recovery over the winter months.

Modelled decline

In December 2006, a study by US researchers forecast that the Arctic could be ice-free in summers by 2040.

A team of scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the University of Washington, and McGill University, found that "positive feedbacks" were likely to accelerate the decline of the region's ice system.

Sea ice has a bright surface which reflects 80% of the sunlight that strikes it back into space. However, as the ice melts during the summer, more of the dark ocean surface becomes exposed.

Rather than reflecting sunlight, the ocean absorbs 90% of it, causing the waters to warm and increase the rate of melting.

Scientists fear that this feedback mechanism will have major consequences for wildlife in the region, not least polar bears, which traverse ice floes in search of food.

On a global scale, the Earth would lose a major reflective surface and so absorb more solar energy, potentially accelerating climatic change across the world.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7006640.stm

Published: 2007/09/21 12:16:59 GMT

© BBC MMVII