More bad news on the climate. A study by British researchers has found that the Arctic sea ice thickness “plummeted” last winter, thinning by as much as half a metre in some regions.

The team from University College London argue that the results provided the first definitive proof that the overall volume of Arctic ice was decreasing. “The ice thickness was fairly constant for the five winters before this, but it plummeted in the winter after the 2007 minimum,” lead author Katherine Giles told the BBC News.

The team has found that sea ice in the Arctic shrank to its smallest size on record in September 2007, when it extended across an area of just 4.13 million sq km, beating the previous record low of 5.32 million sq km, measured in 2005.

The recent record losses of ice cover in the Arctic has led to suggestions that the region could have reached a “tipping point” argues the paper’s co-author Seymour Laxon.

“About five years ago, the average projection for the sea ice disappearing was about 2080. But the ice minimums, and this evidence of melting, suggests that we should favour the models that suggest the sea ice will disappear by 2030-2040, but there is still a lot of uncertainty.”

Meanwhile if you logged onto You Tube yesterday you would have been able to watch a video of JFK arguing that “climate change threatens our very existence. Now is the time for an energy revolution.”

Of course, JFK never said it, but it’s the latest video from Greenpeace that has been launched to co-incide with their latest report “Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook?”, produced by the European Renewable Energy Council provides a practical blueprint for rapidly cutting energy-related CO2.

In one of the most comprehensive plans mapping out future energy provision, the report argues that aggressive investment in renewable power generation and energy efficiency could create an annual USD 360 billion industry, providing half of the world’s electricity, slashing over USD 18 trillion in future fuel costs while protecting the climate.

“Unlike other energy scenarios that promote energy futures at the cost of the climate, our energy revolution scenario shows how to save money and maintain global economic development without fuelling catastrophic climate change. All we need to kick start this plan is bold energy policy from world leaders,” said Sven Teske, Greenpeace International’s Senior Energy Expert and co-author of the report.

I wonder what JFK would make of it all…

One Comment

  • Two Points:

    1 – I noticed your wonderful picture of stranded polar bears on an ice floe that was used by folks like ”Dr.” Al Gore to demonstrate how dire the man-made global warming issue is? Well, ABC television in Australia, on a show called “Media Watch,” debunked the entire issue. It turns out, as NewBuster Jake Gontesky reported on March 20, 2007 the picture was taken in the month of August, “when every year the fringes of the Arctic ice cap melt regardless of the wider effects of global warming.” The photographer, Australian marine biology student Amanda Byrd, didn’t think the bears were in any jeopardy.

    2 – The outgoing leader of Greenpeace has admitted his organization’s recent claim that the Arctic Ice will disappear by 2030 was “a mistake.” Greenpeace made the claim in a July 15 2009 press release entitled “Urgent Action Needed As Arctic Ice Melts,” which said there will be an ice-free Arctic by 2030 because of global warming. Under close questioning by BBC reporter Stephen Sackur on the “Hardtalk” program, Gerd Leipold, the retiring leader of Greenpeace, said the claim was wrong. “I don’t think it will be melting by 2030. … That may have been a mistake,” he said.

Comments are closed.