Climate change is here, now, say scientists
WebPosted Nov 3 2004 08:36 AM CST
YELLOWKNIFE -
The most comprehensive study of Arctic climate change ever made has
some dramatic news for Canada's North.
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The melting polar cap could open trans-Arctic shipping routes, the report says |
The report, which will be released next week, says that the most rapid
climate change on earth is happening in the Arctic.
And it's happening faster than many scientists previously believed.
The Big Melt
Begins
The ACIA report says the Arctic icecap has shrunk by 15-20 per cent in
the past 30 years and the contraction is likely to accelerate.
The Arctic Ocean could be almost ice-free in summer by the
end of the century.
Inuit hunters are falling through ice, permafrost is thawing
and destabilizing foundations of buildings and vital winter
roads, while the habitat of creatures from polar bears to seals
is literally melting away.
The report projects that temperatures in the Arctic will
rise by four to seven degrees in
the next 100 years.
If temperatures then stayed stable, the
Greenland icecap would melt altogether in 1,000 years and raise
global sea levels by about seven metres.
The report says that the thaw will have some positive
side-effects. Oil and gas deposits will be easier to reach, more
farming may be possible and short-cut trans-Arctic shipping
lanes may open.
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The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report says climate
change caused by
greenhouse gas emissions will radically change the northern environment over
the next generation.
The statement comes with unprecedented
scientific evidence, supported
by the work of 250 scientists
over the past four years.
Washington-based Dr. Robert Corell, the
lead scientist on the study, says the average winter temperature in the
Western Arctic has warmed by an average three degrees in the past 60 years.
"The Arctic climate is warming very dramatically now, we have
documented it scientifically with the evidence," he says.
"But what is
fascinating for
us is that it's doing so so much more rapidly than we had anticipated as
recently as four years ago when we started.
"It's just all about climate
change is here and now, it's not something that we're anticipating in the
years ahead, it's already here."
Corell believes changes like that will have a dire effect on northern
wildlife and the people who rely on them for sustenance.
And he says the changes will also impact the rest of the world.
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
Yellowknife environmentalist Bob Bromley hasn't seen the study but from
what he's heard, he says it confirms
his worst suspicions about the speed and intensity of climate change in the
North.
Bromley says he hopes this study will catch the attention of leaders
who have real power to address the issue.
"As far as this report goes, and it's effectiveness at moving things
forward," he says.
"Time will tell as to whether our leaders will hear what
we are
saying as Canadians and as residents of the circumpolar world, as canaries
in the coal mine saying 'the world is really suffering here, we're
responsible, we have the technology to do something about it, we need
leadership now."
The study will be presented at an international conference in Iceland
next week.
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