14 Dec 2007- Climate scientists
gathered at the American Geophysical Union
meeting have announced that summer sea ice
in the Arctic could disappear completely in
six years. Despite these dramatic new findings,
WWF believes that it is still not too late
to avoid the most serious impacts of climate
change.
A message to policymakers in Bali
“This unsettling news is the most compelling
argument for deep cuts to emissions, now,”
says Dr Neil Hamilton, director of the WWF
International Arctic Programme. International
policymakers meeting in Bali should have no
doubt that the world can expect an ice-free
Arctic much sooner than previously predicted,
he says.
This latest sea ice news is a powerful indicator
that we may now have passed the ‘point of
no return,’ potentially triggering impacts
on societies around the world.
Time is running out
“Time may have run out to avoid an arctic
meltdown,” says Dr Hamilton. The Arctic is
a reliable barometer for global warming and
climate change impacts are most visible there.
The world needs to understand that what happens
in the Arctic affects us all, says Hamilton.
The shocking sea ice model results are based
on a high-resolution spatial analysis. According
to Professor Wieslaw Maslowski, a researcher
from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey,
California, previous sea ice models underestimated
the amount of heat transported to the Arctic
by ocean currents. Maslowski’s research team
includes scientists from NASA, the Institute
of Oceanology, the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The Solution
WWF research shows that it is possible to
reduce global emissions as soon as 2015, avoiding
the worst impacts of climate change. But we
must act now.
Dr Neil Hamilton, Director
WWF International Arctic Programme
