Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole

Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Friday, 27 June 2008
 

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.

The rest of the article is here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html

A new frontier! Quick! Grab it!

Polar bears? WHAT polar bears?

I happened to spot this article too.

Where is all that extra water going to go when the ice melts?! We already have flooding problems here 

-hangs head-

My opinion and mine alone, is that the earth is changing, it's going to change, no matter what we do. Did we add to the "problem"? Maybe, it's possible. But I think even if we didn't add to it, I firmly believe the earth is changing like it did millions of years ago. What caused the climate and earth to change back when the dinosaurs were on the planet? There wasn't cars around back then, there wasn't gas being used for heating and cooling and gas being used to cook food! 

The Earth does seem to go through cycles over time. I do suspect that we are adding to it by the destruction of the rainforests and things like that.

I also agree that the Earth goes through changes. We are just advanced enough now to track world wide changes and compare them to what we know of the past. And we probably are adding to the changes.

I fully agree here