Wednesday 11 March 2015

An ice-free Arctic?

ON A POSSIBLE ICE-FREE ARCTIC IN SEPTEMBER



So, what would happen if the sea ice was wiped out?

Sunlight that previously went into melting the sea ice, as well as sunlight that was previously reflected back into space by sea ice, would be absorbed by the Arctic Ocean instead. In other words, we can expect massive warming.

Professor Peter Wadhams on albedo changes in the Arctic -

"The resulting temperature rise is likely to start wildfires all over the Northern Hemisphere, which would not only send huge amounts of greenhouse gases and soot into the air, but could also cause the grid to stop functioning, which would make electricity supply stop, industrial activity stop, traffic stop, etc. This in turn would make that the aerosols that are currently sent up in the air by such activities and that are currently masking the full wrath of global warming, will fall out of the air in a matter of weeks. Until now, about half of the global temperature rise is suppressed by such aerosols. Stopping aerosols release overnight could make temperatures rise abruptly by 1.2°C (2.16°F) in a matter of weeks."


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