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--Apple-Mail-13-28844 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_00DB_01CC35DF.9E6E4E30 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I have always thought it would be interesting if someone would compare = the melting of the ice in the arctic to the melting of the ice in Nova = Scotia Just think of all the terrible things that have happened in Nova = Scotia after the ice melted here ten thousand years ago. Roland ----- Original Message -----=20 From: James W. Wolford=20 To: NatureNS=20 Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 5:28 PM Subject: [NatureNS] Herald article today on melting arctic ice was too = short. For those interested, note how much of this article was left out of = the printed newspaper, at least for the Valley edition, versus what was = on the Herald Web site. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville ----------------------------- Chronicle Herald, Tuesday, June 28, 2011 http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1250711.html Walkers help solve mystery of fast melt=20 By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press=20 Tue, Jun 28 - 4:54 AM A 500-kilometre walk over treacherous Arctic terrain has resulted in a = possible explanation for why sea ice in northern waters is melting so = much more rapidly than anyone thought it would. "We=92re trying to understand why the ice is melting so fast," said = Simon Boxall of the Catlin Arctic Survey. "It=92s not just down to = simple warming. There are more complicated processes." The speed at which sea ice is disappearing in the Arctic has far = exceeded almost all predictions and alarmed climate scientists. A 2007 paper from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, = Colo., found that the projections of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental = Panel on Climate Change were already obsolete three years after they = were published. When projections from the panel were compared with actual = observations, the authors found that between 1953 and 2006 the sea ice = was retreating three times faster than it should have. Between 1979 and = 2006, when satellite data was available, the actual retreat was twice as = fast as climate models predicted. The report concluded that sea ice retreat is 30 years ahead of where = scientists thought it would be. "Decay of the ice cover is proceeding more rapidly than expected based = on the model simulations," said the report published in Geophysical = Research Letters. The team at the Catlin Arctic Survey, sponsored by the Catlin Group = insurance company, thought the answer might lie in different = temperatures at different levels of Arctic seas. Such data is usually obtained from ships. But during the spring, when = melting is greatest, there=92s still too much sea ice for ships to make = it through. So the scientists walked from Borden Island to Ellef Ringnes Island = and also from near the North Pole all the way down to the northern tip = of Ellesmere Island, slogging about 10 kilometres a day in = below-deep-freeze temperatures over rugged, uneven ice. What they found was a surprise =97 a layer of seawater about 200 = metres below the surface that was actually colder than when it had been = measured by previous expeditions. "That=92s counterintuitive," said Boxall. "We would expect to see, = with global warming, warming conditions generally." But when they realized that the colder water was also saltier than = they expected, an explanation began to suggest itself. Boxall points out that the older sea ice is, the less salt it = contains. Ice that=92s two or three years old already contains very = little salt. [NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ENDED RIGHT HERE, WITH NO INDICATION THAT THERE WAS = MORE OF THE ARTICLE THAT WAS ELSEWHERE OR JUST LEFT OUT][JW] Year-old ice, however, remains fairly salty. And when it melts, it = produces meltwater that's denser than the relatively fresh water from = older ice. As multi-year ice declines throughout the Arctic, more of the saltier = meltwater from younger ice is mixing into the ocean. That colder, denser = water sinks more quickly and forces less dense water from deeper in the = ocean up to the surface. Because fresh meltwater is colder than seawater, that means relatively = warm water is being forced upwards. And that, said Boxall, may be part = of the reason that sea ice is melting so much faster than anyone thought = it would. ``What we're seeing is that (fresh meltwater) being taken away from = the surface and replaced by slightly warmer water,'' said Boxall. ``The = evidence is that the surface waters are (now) slightly warmer.'' Boxall cautions that his conclusions are based on a preliminary review = of data that the team brought back from the ice. ``We need to compare our results with previous data and with groups = from other areas.'' A paper is being prepared for publication. The results do show that the effects of climate change and global = warming are not always obvious, suggested Boxall. ``The evidence is that there's something interesting going on. The = fact that (the climate) is getting warmer is one reason for the ice = melting, but it's more complex than that.'' ------=_NextPart_000_00DB_01CC35DF.9E6E4E30 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Dwindows-1252"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.6000.17098" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY=20 style=3D"WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space"=20 bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I have always thought it would be = interesting if=20 someone would compare the melting of the ice in the arctic to the = melting of the=20 ice in Nova Scotia Just think of all the terrible things that have = happened in Nova Scotia after the ice melted here ten thousand years=20 ago.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Roland</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=3Dltr=20 style=3D"PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B>=20 <A title=3Djimwolford@eastlink.ca = href=3D"mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">James W.=20 Wolford</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=3Dnaturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20 href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">NatureNS</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent