Arctic Melt Passing the Point of No Return

Arctic Melt Passes the Point of No Return

[In a] study to be presented Tuesday to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco by top cryosphere scientists:

"Scientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen."

Researchers say autumn temperatures were higher because of the heat accumulation from increased melting in the summer.

The process, known as Arctic amplification, was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years and the findings will further raise concerns that the Arctic has already passed the climatic tipping-point towards ice-free summers, and could signify Arctic melting has hit a point of no return.

...The study is from scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), who have been regularly reporting on the unexpectedly rapid loss of Arctic ice over the past several years. It bears repeating that “The recent [Arctic] sea-ice retreat is larger than in any of the (19) IPCC [climate] models”...The retreat has accelerated in the past three years.

...As one of the NSIDC authors, Mark Serreze, said in August, “No matter where we stand at the end of the melt season it’s just reinforcing this notion that Arctic ice is in its death spiral.”


Dec 15, 2008

for complete article:

http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/15/nsidc-arctic-melt-passes-the-point-of-no-return-we-hate-to-say-we-told-you-so-but-we-did/