Pending Imminent Ecological Debacle
From the Grauniad – “Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years “ emphasis and hyperlinks added. Does anyone have an interpretation of this that doesn’t come out as “we are completely fubarred”? Anyone?
….Wadhams says the implications are “terrible”. “The positives are increased possibility of Arctic transport, increased access to Arctic offshore oil and gas resources. The main negative is an acceleration of global warming.”
“As the sea ice retreats in summer the ocean warms up (to 7C in 2011) and this warms the seabed too. The continental shelves of the Arctic are composed of offshore permafrost, frozen sediment left over from the last ice age. As the water warms the permafrost melts and releases huge quantities of trapped methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas so this will give a big boost to global warming.“
“Does anyone have an interpretation of this that doesn’t come out as “we are completely fubarred”?”
To a first approximation of ‘fubarred’, no I don’t. This is probably not a cause for total inaction though.