The Arctic ice is melting fast. Big surprise. But this week even the most dire scientific extrapolations were smashed when they noticed how thin and how tiny the Arctic ice sheet has become this summer. The last day of summer, which was yesterday, is the annual benchmark when the Arctic ice hits its lowest level and begins to freeze and grow larger once again. This year scientists compared satellite images (which have been around for 30 years now) and noticed that the summer Arctic ice levels of 2012 are 50% the size of the ice levels of 1979. But wait — it gets worse. Last night I was watching CBC NEWS’ coverage of the story where science correspondent Bob McDonald reported on a terrifying fact that nobody is talking about — what lies beneath the permafrost. When this frozen earth of the north begins to thaw, so too will all the organic matter that lies beneath as well which was frozen 12,000 years ago. From all the wooly mammoths, to all the plant matter, to all the microbacteria, when this all begins to rot it will produce methane gas — a devastating greenhouse gas. SCIENTISTS ESTIMATE THERE IS 4-TIMES THE AMOUNT OF CARBON HIDDEN IN THE PERMAFROST THAN ALL THE CARBON DIOXIDE THAT HUMANS HAVE UNLEASHED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE SINCE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BEGAN.
Source: CBC NEWS
