The Arctic as we knew it is no more, you guys (Mother Jones notes this story originally came from Grist)
This Should Freak Everyone Out: The Arctic Will Never Be Frozen Again
Last week, at a New Orleans conference center that once doubled as a storm shelter for thousands during Hurricane Katrina, a group of polar scientists made a startling declaration: The Arctic as we once knew it is no more.
See? Told ya!
The region is now definitively trending toward an ice-free state, the scientists said, with wide-ranging ramifications for ecosystems, national security, and the stability of the global climate system. It was a fitting venue for an eye-opening reminder that, on its current path, civilization is engaged in an existential gamble with the planet’s life-support system.
In an accompanying annual report on the Arctic’s health—titled “Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decadesâ€â€”the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees all official U.S. research in the region, coined a term: “New Arctic.â€
For such Progressive people, they sure are afraid of change, and seem to want things to stay like the past. They sure harass women like it’s the past, but, that’s a different story.
Until roughly a decade or so ago, the region was holding up relatively well, despite warming at roughly twice the rate of the planet as a whole. But in recent years, it’s undergone an abrupt change, which now defines it. The Arctic is our glimpse of an Earth in flux, transforming into something that’s radically different from today.
Like has constantly happened throughout the 4.5 billion years Earth has been around. Heck, 20,000 years ago the ice age ended.
Using 1,500 years of natural records compiled from lake sediments, ice cores, and tree rings as context, the NOAA report says the Arctic is changing at a rate far beyond what’s occurred in the region for millennia.
How disingenuous. Most of that time the Earth was in the midst of the Little Ice Age.
That the Arctic is now a relic of a time gone by—the first major part of the planet on a countdown clock—should shock us. It’s one of those facts that those of us who closely follow climate change knew was coming. And with its arrival, it is devastating in its totality.
The loss of the Old Arctic is as close as humanity has come so far to irreversibly transforming its planet into something fundamentally different than what has given rise to civilization over the past 10,000 years. This is a terrifying transition, and one worth mourning. But it’s also a reminder that our path as individuals and as a society is not fixed.
If the Arctic can change this quickly, then so must we.
Great, sounds great. Let’s start with all the Warmists, who need to give up their own use of fossil fuels and go carbon neutral. And pay lots of taxes and fees. And curtail their freedom. And start living like it’s the 1400’s.
Anonymous sources in the report?
Typical.
Anonymous sources such as:
Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA’s Arctic Program
Timothy Gallaudet, NOAA Administrator
Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska-Fairbanks
NOAA (http://www.noaa.gov/)
NSIDC (http://nsidc.org/)
But don’t worry, Mr. tRump is working to silence them all so that you will not be burdened by their knowledge.
In the meantime, Artic ice continues to be lost.
While we don’t know much about the Arctic sea ice 4.5 billion years ago, it’s clear that over the past few decades measured Arctic sea ice is retreating at a rate of about 5.1% decade with not reason to expect it to stop soon. Estimates of Arctic sea ice over the past 1500 years show the current period the lowest.
Referring to the past 1500 years, TEACH disingenuously typed:
Actually, the so-called Little Ice Age was only a few hundred years long, e.g., 1500 to 1900, so not “most of the time” of the 1500 years past. Counterintuitively, and in contradiction to TEACHs inference, estimated Arctic sea ice was not greater during the LIA.
But all is not lost. Mr. tRump will soon put a lid on all such pronouncements from NOAA.
But changing environments are necessary for evolution to operate. Survival of change is how we got here. To stop climate change is to deprive all species their chance to evolve.
Macroevolution of plants and animals does not operate over a period of 100 years. It’s like flooding a town with 30 feet of water and blaming the residents for not evolving gills. It doesn’t work that way.
In addition, the current bout of rapid warming is being caused by human actions.
Jeffery, Humans evolved environmental manipulation as a survival strategy; so mankind is doing what it naturally does — change the environment. It is part of nature, part of evolution. No animal, has evolved the responsibility for other species.(well maybe symbiotic arrangements). Other species are simply resources for other animal species. To claim responsibility for Nature is to claim moral agency for the world. Ultimate survival may necessitate that but only for humans. But that would also allow for the elimination of pests, weeds, non-resource species that compete with humans.
Animals regularly over populate and over eat their food supply. Nothing unusual there. Humans maybe in the process of doing that. But so What? It is part of nature.
Since climate is a man-made concept of 30year averages of weather and weather patterns; climate zones may shift in location but they do not change. Changing climate would be changing the definition of a Zone.
Nature operates slowly or catastrophically so that is just part of the evolutionary challenge of survival. So What?
100 to 150 years (since the Little Ice Age) is hardly enough time for climate zones to shift. That is only 3 to 5 average periods for climate. Hardly enough time to say climate zone borders are shifting permanently.
Your point is well-taken, in that humans are part of the natural environment. On the other hand, while we suspect your point was in jest, suggesting that humans are obligated to modify the Earth’s overall climate to support evolution seems a stretch. Dumping raw human sewage in a lake is “natural” and over time will certainly affect the plants and animals there, but polluting the lake to “assist” evolution makes about as much sense in polluting our air for the same reason.
Humans are not “Obligated” to do anything but to be human as they have evolved to be. Obligation and responsibility for the environment are moral words not found in Evolution. Humans are only “obligated” to Survive and Adapt to continue the species.
Isn’t this where Mother Nature jumps in a says hold my beer
“In addition, the current bout of “warmingâ€is caused by temperature adjustments, UHI effects nor taken into account, loss of station coverage, and a dermined effort to ignore satellite data.†Fixed it for you
j,
How did temperature adjustments cause Arctic ice to melt?
How does Mumbai being warmer than the surrounding area cause Arctic ice to melt?
The UAH satellite dataset yields 0.155 C/decade increase and the RSS satellite dataset yields 0.189 C/decade. The HADCRUT global surface dataset shows 0.188 C/decade over the same interval (1979-2018). What satellite data do you believe is being ignored?
“The Arctic…â€. Wait, I thought it was supposed to be global
Global warming IS global! You may not realize this, but the Arctic is a part of Earth and is also warming (actually it’s warming more rapidly than most regions).
We’re all going to die….http://notrickszone.com/2017/03/02/new-paper-indicates-there-is-more-arctic-sea-ice-now-than-for-nearly-all-of-the-last-10000-years/#sthash.8dyj3XdX.dpbs
Sorry, nothing out of the ordinary, as shown