Arctic melting is accelerating … the normal system isn’t bouncing back.
This is what we call a "feedback loop" …
From the CBC Science section this week
Phillips, a senior climatologist with the federal weather agency, says temperatures were four to five degrees warmer than usual this past winter. The higher temperatures come on the heels of dramatic losses in sea ice last summer, Phillips says, and so the natural cycle hasn’t had a chance to recover.
"There has been no rebounding back," he said. "The ice just hasn’t had a chance to bounce back, to grow during the winter, during the cold season of the year.
"Essentially what’s happening is there’s been so much warm weather, week after week, month after month, season after season, the environment is just not behaving the way it should," said Phillips.
This is why we need to be concerned. One year of warming isn’t a problem. Heck, a couple hot summers aren’t a problem. It’s the lack of cold winters that’s the problem. As this continues, the scare stories begin. At the very least we’re going to start seeing Arctic species (like polar bears) dying off. Then people are going to have to move as their houses built on permafrost start to sink (this has already started to happen).
After that … it’s anyone’s guess.
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