Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/17/arctic-collapse-sea-ice?intcmp=122


Prof Peter Wadhams calls for “urgent” consideration of new ideas to reduce global temperatures. Photograph: John Mcconnico/AP

One of the world's leading ice experts has predicted the final collapse of Arctic sea ice in summer months within four years.

In what he calls a "global disaster" now unfolding in northern latitudes as the sea area that freezes and melts each year shrinks to its lowest extent ever recorded, Prof Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University calls for "urgent" consideration of new ideas to reduce global temperatures.

In an email to the Guardian he says: "Climate change is no longer something we can aim to do something about in a few decades' time, and that we must not only urgently reduce CO2 emissions but must urgently examine other ways of slowing global warming, such as the various geoengineering ideas that have been put forward."

These include reflecting the sun's rays back into space, making clouds whiter and seeding the ocean with minerals to absorb more CO2.

[FirstLight]

1. from his lips...

may this dire news not fall on deaf ears...

[n2doc]

2. It's already too late

We can do nothing in 4 years to stop this, short of a nuclear war, global plague or giant volcanic eruption. All we can do is to try to figure out how to stop increasing greenhouse gasses, and that seems beyond human willpower. Maybe people will care when they have to evacuate lower Manhattan and Washington DC due to rising sea levels. Maybe.



Maybe we have reached the low for the year.

[bahrbearian]

4. Don't say Nuclear War, your just giving the Neocons a new reason to start one.

[n2doc]

6. I'm sure if the Neocons could somehow start one that didn't result in Nuclear Winter

they would. Their basic philosophy is, if it is good for average people, we are opposed to it.

[CrispyQ]

11. "Maybe people will care when they have to evacuate lower Manhattan..."

Sadly, I think that's exactly what it's going to take. At the same time, parts of the southern US will barely be habitable 4-5 months out of the year.

[Trillo]

3. One thing I never see discussed in these discussions.

The use of nuclear power to heat the waters.

~~~ The way these discussions usually go ~~~~

Person A says, "When you put a heater in a cup of water, the water warms up, and any ice in the water melts. If your cup of water is sufficiently large, and the heater sufficiently small, it may not seem to be heating up very fast, if at all. So, lets add more heaters! Brilliant!"

Person B says, "No, dummy, it's the increasing amounts of CO2 melting the arctic. You're not smart and educated enough to understand nuclear or atmospheric physics. Leave that to the scientists. Go wash some dishes or plant a tree. Whatever you do, stop driving. The more you drive, the dumber you are. Get a bicycle."

Person C says, "No, you're both wrong. The sun is hotter. Our solar system is passing through a photon belt that exists at a particular elevation in the spiral arm of the galaxy, and these photons accelerate energy exchanges produced in the solar system."

Person D says, "No, you're all idiots. There are increased emissions coming from the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and they are changing everything."

Person E says, "Can we please stop calling each other idiots? You're all correct, this is a perfect storm from every direction imaginable."

Person F says, "We are all gonna die."

Person G says, "Our bodies die, but our spirits live forever. We can't be killed!"

Person H says, "Can you offer any proof that a thing such as spirit exists?"

Person I says, "Doesn't this belong in the religion forum?"

[The Doctor.]

10. That was kind of.... ummm.... nonsensical.

I've never seen a climate discussion here that looked anything like that. Maybe I just don't get the joke.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Why would you think about heating 'the waters' with nuclear power?

I presume 'the waters' means ocean - Arctic or not. Why do you note that people don't talk about heating the oceans with nuclear power? Is it your belief that the warming of the Arctic ocean is mainly due to the reject heat from nuclear power stations? Because it';s not.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

[Gregorian]

7. "examine other ways of slowing global warming". We could start by limiting our activity.

Anything else is just a bandaid.

What about slowing down world population? Hell, that kills ten birds with one stone.

Who are these Einsteins who are looking for ways to slow global warming? A bunch of phd's who can't see past their own bifocals?

Yeah, go ahead and flame me. I know I'll get the usual responses.

[msongs]

8. computers and monitors logged on to DU generate heat. hmmm nt

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I'm learning to breathe methane as we speak. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Ooops, wrong place.

[RobertEarl]

12. Optimism is a good thing, right?

Yes, we can!

Any day now, the PTB will decide that, indeed, something must be done.

Maybe they will label it as a "War on Global warming"? That would get some attention, eh?

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Another wind storm is headed for Anchorage, forecasters say

I guess this is our new normal now, in this age of melting polar ice caps.

http://www.adn.com/2012/09/17/2628466/more-storms-headed-toward-anchorage.html

The National Weather Service has issued a new high wind watch. The Anchorage office is predicting gusts along Turnagain Arm and upper Hillside reaching 70 mph early on Tuesday.

Winds should diminish during the afternoon but increase again on Tuesday night with possible gusts of 80 to 100 mph continuing into Wednesday, the weather service says.

"We're still trying to get some particulars on it," said David Stricklan, a meteorologist with the service's Anchorage office. "We'll have to re-evaluate it as it gets closer, but it's shaping up pretty much as forecast."

The weather service model foresees high winds hitting Anchorage from the southeast as the result of a low-pressure system developing over the Alaska Peninsula on Tuesday and moving north toward Nome over the course of the storm.

<snip>

This will be the third high wind event in southcentral Alaska since September 4.