Satellites show shrinking ice
European Space Agency satellites show sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level in 30 years.
Researchers say the ice melt may open the Northwest Passage, which has historically been impassable by boat.
"The reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected and that we urgently need to understand better the processes involved," Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Center said Friday in a release.
Arctic sea ice naturally extends its surface coverage each northern winter and recedes each northern summer, but the rate of overall loss since 1978, when satellite records began, has accelerated.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted the Arctic would be virtually ice-free by summer 2070. Other scientists predict it could become ice-free as early as 2040 due to rising temperatures and sea ice decline, the agency said.
// Copyright 2007 by United Press International
- New warning on Arctic ice melt
- Arctic ozone levels in never-before-seen plunge
- 10 most important world events of 2009
- Freezing rain shuts Moscow's airport and cuts power
- Mishandling of radioactive materials accelerating demise of Russia’s Arctic population
- Cargo and passenger ships with thousands on board trapped by ice in the Baltic Sea
- Polar bear fossil traces origin to brown bears
- Ancient Mammals Wintered in Warm, Dark Arctic
- Traffic in central Chisinau diverted
- Ice storms coat U.S. Midwest
- Naked photo shoot planned for Mexico City
- Kerry Katona expecting another girl
- Anna Nicole Smith's body in morgue amid court fight
- Johnny Knoxville has confessed he has a small penis
- Nude Britney Spears on Bearskin Rug
- Captive Natascha Kampusch was sexually abused - Images
- Angelina Jolie till sleeps with Jenny Shimizu
- Fire of raunchy photos Katie Rees Miss Nevada
- Sex scandal: Romanian consul in Moldova caught on tape
- World's smallest baby to be released from hospital