arctic ice increases 60%

The way this story has been presented makes it sound like the NW Passage has been open for many years, and suddenly, unexpectedly, it was closed this year due to a massive increase in ice. The opposite is the case. The NW Passage has never been open (at least in modern times) until last summer's extreme warmth caused a huge decrease in sea ice. [Correction: the NW Passage has been done a few times in the last decade by non-icebreakers.] So a bunch of eager-beavers thought they'd check another item off their bucket list and do the passage this year. No such luck. Maybe next year -- or not. Who knows?

In fairness to the BBC their Dec 2007 article says:

"Their latest modelling studies indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free in summers within just 5-6 years. " [Emphasis mine]

 

If you are planning to go there, it will be best to book the trip in a sub.

 

Last year Matt Rutherford completed the first solo circumnavigation of the two Americas, in a classic-plastic Albin Vega 27. For the geographically challenged, that means he went through the NW Passage without the benefit of an ice-breaker, or even with a metal boat.

http://www.solotheamericas.org/

The Northern Sea Route (aka North-East Passage), north of Siberia, has been used commercially for a few years now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sea_Route

 

Congratulations to him. That was probably his last chance to do it.

 

Actually, water density changes with temp. Until 4 degrees celsius, if I remember right.

Much of the ice in Greenland and Antarctic are also 'in the water.' So, it is not as easy as ice melts, water levels go up.

That is why the global warming scientists keep giving drastically different numbers, from 3 to 10 feet to over 100 feet .... My calculations place it on the lower end, not on the upper end.

 

Water density may change when frozen but the mass does not. It displaces its own mass. Which is what I said originally.

As for Antarctic ice, the ice shelfs are floating, yes, but the plateau area is 10,000 feet high and a hell of a lot colder. That ice is not floating and it isn't going to melt any time soon.

3 feet of sea level rise would do but I'd prefer a bit more.

PDW

 

Antarctica does have substantial floating ice shelves, but Greenland does not. No one is predicting that all the polar ice will melt any time soon, but if it did sea levels would rise over 200 feet.

National Snow and Ice Data Center | Quick Facts on Ice Sheets

 

As the ice on Greenland melts, if it does, Greenland will rise back to a height re-approximating its previously unfrozen position.

 

Interesting bit of news on that one: they've discovered a canyon about 500 miles long and half a mile deep in Greenland, buried under about three miles of ice. Its size puts it in the same league as the Grand Canyon....

http://science.time.com/2013/08/30/...-beneath-the-melting-ice-sheets-of-greenland/

 

That is an interesting article. It also proves the earth was much warmer than it is today which we also did not cause so there is no need to panic over a little warm weather.

"In the warmer geologic past, when far less ice covered Greenland, the canyon would have carried a rushing river up the center of the island, just as the Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon today.

Read more: http://science.time.com/2013/08/30/scientists-discover-a-mega-canyon-beneath-the-melting-ice-sheets-of-greenland/#ixzz2eoGIwjkK"

 

For all you know, the Earth may have been uninhabitable for humans back when that canyon was being formed. So its existence hardly proves drastic changes in today's Earth won't affect us.....

 

There is still no need to panic simply because panic never helps.

 

There is also no need to label every attempt to bring attention to an important subject 'panicking.'

 

There is also no need to try to scare people into subservience using fear-mongering propaganda.

 

Subservience??
Subservience to whom or to what?