Inside VOA | Contact VOA News

Voice of America ® Search VOA News

A Trusted Source of News & Information since 1942

May 05, 2011 Latest News: Select Your Language 6

News Programs Video Learning English Live Streams: Latest Newscast | Africa Live | Global Live

News | Environment

News Environment
USA
Arctic Ice Melting Faster Than Predicted Email This Article
Africa
May 04, 2011 Rosanne Skirble Print This Article
Americas
Comment on This Article
Asia
Europe
Middle East

Arts and
Entertainment
Economy
More Topics

Education
Environment Science World
Health From archaeology to
News Analysis zoology, from atoms to
Religion galaxies, Our World gives
a state-of-the-art mix of
Science and
news and features
Technology
Sports More »

The Chesapeake Bay

Photo: AP
Web Features An iceberg melting off the coast of Ammasalik, Greenland (file photo)
Restoring America's
Special Reports Largest Estuary
Photo Galleries As government officials from eight Arctic nations More »
Share This
Going Green
- the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden,
Facebook
Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland -
Money In Motion
prepare to meet in Greenland next week to Yahoo! Buzz
Now You Know Video Features
discuss the challenges of climate change, a
Money In Motion
Off the Beaten Path report released May 4, 2011 underscores the Watch Philip Alexiou's report
The Link urgency of the Arctic Council meeting. The on the U.S. Debt Ceiling.
study finds the Arctic's polar ice is melting at a More Webcasts 6
much faster rate than previously thought.
Interactive
Most-Viewed Articles
YouTube
The report was released by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment 1. Obama Will Not Release bin Laden
Facebook Program, the scientific arm of the 8-nation Arctic Council. It finds that the Death Photo
Twitter past six years - between 2005 and 2010 - were the warmest years 2. Afghanistan: Pakistan Must Have
recorded in the Arctic since measurements began in 1880. Known bin Laden Was Living in
Abbottabad
Web Services
Gordon Hamilton is a leading glaciologist and professor at the University 3. New York City Tightens Security After
Podcasts bin Laden Death
of Maine Climate Change Institute. He says the new assessment updates
RSS the U.N.’s Climate Change Panel’s 2007 report with data on Arctic 4. US Revises Description of bin Laden
Killing
Mobile
conditions over the past five years.
5. US: Hamas Leader’s bin Laden
Newsletter Remarks 'Outrageous'
"And so with our new understanding on how ice sheets are behaving and
Webcasts how they are responding to climate change we can say that the IPCC [UN Most E-mailed Articles
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] estimate for sea level rise
1. Obama Will Not Release bin Laden
from 18 to 59 centimeters is a very large underestimate and we are looking
Links Death Photo
at something probably double the upper end of the estimate. So we are
About the US 2. Sleep Apnea Associated with Stroke
expecting one meter of sea level rise by 2100," said Gordon Hamilton.
Editorials 3. Daughters, Sons and Dogs Get a
Day at the Office
RFE/RL Melting from Arctic glaciers, ocean ice and the Greenland ice sheet will
4. China Hails bin Laden Death,
RFA make substantial contributions to that sea level rise, the report finds.
Defends Pakistan
Hamilton says while the year 2100 may seem like a long way off, the new
Pronunciation 5. Obama Weighed Options Before bin
Guide estimates can help policy makers address changes in coastal areas whereby www.PDFonFly.com
Generated Laden Strike at 5/4/2011 6:33:15 PM
URL: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Arctic-Ice-Melting-Faster-than-Predicted-121283894.html
 more than half the world’s population lives.

"If you’re building coastal structures or if you are planning development in

coastal zones, these are the types of human activity that take place over
the course of decades and so we need to be making these decisions with
the best sea level estimates in hand," he said.

Hamilton is amazed at the rate of change he’s witnessed in polar regions.

"In my field, glaciology, six years ago we didn’t think that ice sheets
responded to climate change on a time scale any shorter than a few
thousand years, whereas now we are seeing the big ice sheets in
Greenland and west Antarctica respond in just a few months to triggers
that are coming from the climate systems," said Hamilton.

The extent and duration of snow cover have decreased throughout the
Arctic, falling by 18 percent since 1966. Other accelerated changes,
Hamilton says, include the rapid decline of sea ice.

"A few years ago the projection was that the Arctic Ocean would be ice-
free in the summers by the year 2080," he said. "Well, in the first few years
of this decade there were some extraordinarily fast declines in Arctic sea
ice."

The report finds that the Arctic Ocean could become nearly ice-free in the
summers within the next thirty to forty years. Hamilton says there is still
time to act to slow down these changes by drastically reducing climate-
changing carbon emissions, initiatives that he hopes the Arctic country
ministers adopt when they meet next week in Greenland.

Email Print Comments

Comments (0)

Post Your Comment

* Required

Your Name (Optional)

Your Country (Optional)

Your Message (Limit 500 characters)*

Submit

By using this form you agree to the following: All comments will be reviewed before
posting. Be aware - not all submissions will be posted. VOA has the right to use your
comments worldwide in any VOA produced media. Terms & Conditions

VOANews: News Programs Video Learning English Archive

Web Services: Podcasts RSS Mobile Newsletter Webcasts
About VOANews.com: Terms of Use and Privacy Notice Broadcasting Board of Governors Inside VOA FAQs Contact VOANews Job
Opportunities

Generated by www.PDFonFly.com at 5/4/2011 6:33:15 PM

URL: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Arctic-Ice-Melting-Faster-than-Predicted-121283894.html