What will the Arctic look like in 20 years due to global warming?

Blog Action Day 2009 is upon us, with this year’s topic of discussion and debate being climate change.

The subject has been argued time and time again; it has been a highlight of U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, with of course the infamous 2008 Sarah Palin retort of:

“I’m not one to attribute every man — activity of man to the changes in the climate. There is something to be said also for man’s activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet. But there are real changes going on in our climate. And I don’t want to argue about the causes. What I want to argue about is, how are we going to get there to positively affect the impacts?”

How can you solve a problem without understanding its real cause? For too long, too many Americans have fallen under this persuasion of “it’s not us, it’s nature.” I say “Americans” because, let’s face it, we seem to be the only country actually debating the cause and effects of climate change. Everyone else seems to have already gotten it right.

Think globally

But forget nationality for a minute. Forget patriotism and partisanship. We as world citizens have a stake in the future of the world’s complex yet fragile ecosystems. We need to seriously think about about climate change – its causes and consequences – and figure out what to do on a day-to-day basis to slow it down or, better yet, reverse its effects.

Sure, life gets in the way sometimes, and battling an all-encompassing foe like climate change could often be a bit too “inconvenient.” But consider the consequences if we let it slip: Floods, wildfires, storms, water and food shortages, natural resource depletion – the list is virtually endless.

Take for instance a new study by the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University, which suggests that the Arctic will be ice-less within the next 20 years, due to rapid acceleration of sea ice loss from global warming.

The study, which compared ice thickness and density from a Royal Navy nuclear submarine over the span of two years, ruled out any miscalculations due to natural warming trends.

If correct, the waterways surrounding the North Pole will be free and clear – the Earth will lose its “white cap” as seen from space. This change is, thus far, the biggest impact global warming is having on the physical appearance of the planet.

“The North Pole will be exposed in ten years,” said Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at Cambridge. “You would be able to sail a Japanese car carrier across the North Pole and out into the Atlantic.”

Ice loss set at an alarming rate

According to the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Center, Arctic ice coverage was the third-lowest since satellite records began in 1979.

The coverage was greater than in 2007 and 2008 largely because of cloudy skies during late summer. Each of the past five years has been one of the five lowest years.

Between March 1st and May 7th of 2009, a team of scientists covered 280 miles of the Arctic – taking measurements and drilling close to 1,500 holes in the sea ice.

This was too thin to have survived the previous year’s summer melting and indicated that the area of moving ice had been formed in open sea during the winter. Instead of dogs hauling sledges across the ice, the scientists waded the cold waters in immersion suits.

Sea of consequences

The loss of Arctic sea ice will have devastating effects on the polar region, according to WWF’s climate change adviser Martin Summerkorn.

Without ice to reflect sunlight, the Arctic Ocean would warm more quickly, resulting in the release of greenhouse gases stored in the Arctic permafrost soils and the acceleration of the melting of the Greenland sheet. These soils contain twice as much carbon as is in the atmosphere.

“This could lead to flooding affecting one quarter of the world’s population and extreme global weather changes,” said Summerkorn.

These changes in one part of the world will have obvious and devastating effects on a global scale. It is up to us to wake up and finally do something about it.

Visit www.blogactionday.org to find out more on how you can make a difference. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com.