Arctic ice loss: Northwest Passage now open, says space agency





PARIS (AFP) - The Northwest Passage, the dreamed-of yet historically impassable maritime shortcut between Europe and Asia, has now fully opened up due to record shrinkage of Arctic sea ice, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday.





It released a mosaic of images, taken in early September by a radar aboard its Envisat satellite, which showed that ice retreat in the Arctic had reached record levels since satellite monitoring began in 1978.




"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around three million square kilometres (1.158 million square miles), which is about one million square kilometres (386,000 sq. miles) less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006," said Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Centre.




"There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq. km. (38,600 sq. miles) per year on average, so a drop of one million sq. km. (386,000 sq. miles) in just one year is extreme."



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Comments

Anonymous said…
You might find it interesting that the Speaker of the House in Kansas signed a letter supporting a new coal burning electric plant. His statement said that the "current climate change is good for Kansas and is beneficial to the Kansas' economy." Going on he stated that a one-degree change in temperature over the past century has made it better for crops such as cotton and cattle ranching." His quotes go on in this general vein and can be found in the 9/28/07 edition of the Salina Journal with the headline GOP House Reps Like New Coal Plants. I believe that this means to hell with the planet. Global warming is good for Kansas.
12:11 PM
Raincloud said…
One of my favourite pastimes at lunchtime at work is browsing the various blog sites. I have found numerous well written articles of interest.
Today I was searching wordpress for ''environment'' and came across this site
http://handsacrossoceanministry.wordpress.com/


My first reaction was shock, disbelief and anger. How can so called religious people not care about the environment and then have the audacity to use God in their justification of their beliefs.

These people need locking away.
2:16 PM
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