XPost: aus.politics, alt.war.vietnam, alt.connecticut
XPost: sac.politics
BEFORE that political tarball of liberal bullshit "global
warming" appeared?
Looks like Al Gore, Joe Biden and Barack Obama are all liars
after all.
Sea ice is melting at a record rate.
The Arctic has recorded its highest air temperature since 1900,
and is warming twice as fast as anywhere in the world.
As a result, the decline in sea ice has caused large numbers of
walruses to lose their natural habitat, and rising sea
temperatures are shifting fish communities northward, according
to this year’s Arctic Report Card released on Tuesday by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The average annual air temperature over land was 2.3 degrees
Fahrenheit above the long-term average, which is the highest
since modern records began in 1900. The maximum Arctic Ocean sea
ice extent – defined as an area with at least 15% ice cover –
occurred on Feb. 25, 2015, 15 days earlier than average. It was
the lowest extent recorded since record-keeping began in 1979.
“The Arctic is warming twice as fast as other parts of the
planet, which has ramifications for global security, climate,
commerce, and trade,” said NOAA chief scientist Dr. Rick Spinrad
during a press conference on Tuesday at the annual American
Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
The higher temperatures are causing unprecedented melting of ice
areas in the region. Melting occurred over more than 50% of the
Greenland Ice Sheet for the first time since the exceptional
melting of 2012, and 22 of the 45 widest and fastest-flowing
glaciers have retreated.
NOAA’s analysis also shows that 70% of the ice pack in March was
composed of first-year ice, meaning that the amount of new,
thinner ice has doubled since the 1980s and is more vulnerable
to melting.
This corresponds with data from the United Nations that show
this year is the hottest on record. In response to global
warming, the recent COP21 climate change summit saw nearly 200
countries reach an agreement to limit the global temperature
rise to below the 2°C above pre-industrial level, a key
threshold before scientists warn irreversible repercussions will
befall the planet.
http://fortune.com/2015/12/16/arctic-report-card/
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