Sea Ice fails to form

On the day atmospheric carbon levels hit a new high of 380 ppm, a team of scientists confirmed that Artic sea ice has failed to fully re-form for the second consecutive winter.

Satellite evidence have confirmed that the sea ice, month by month, failed to return to its long-term average rate of decline.

Scientists fear that Arctic sea ice is being affected by the Albedo effect, and that this is leading to a decline in sea ice both summer and winter. "The positive feedback created by the Albedo effect appear to have accelerated the melting of sea ice," said Dr. Serreze, who is a sea ice expert from the US National Snow and Ice Centre in Colorado.

Satellite photos have shown the sea ice in 2005 was at its lowest for maybe the last 100 years. A similar picture is emerging for 2006. While some sea ice did form, it was unexpectedly thin.

Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, suggested that climate models did point to a retreat of sea ice in the Barents Sea. However, the models did not predict the melting of sea ice in the Barents Sea for a few decades. The fact that it is happening now points to an acceleration of global warming in the polar regions and that we are now experiencing irreversible climate changes to the Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheet.

While the melting of the Arctic sea ice does not contribute to rising sea levels, as the ice is floating on the ocean, the risk of impacting the Gulf Stream has increased significantly and much sooner than predicted by current climate models.