Disturbing Events in the Arctic

There are two sets of measurements that should be cause for alarm. The first is a record decrease in arctic sea ice this year (National Snow and Ice Data Center) and the second is further evidence that there are problems with the thermohaline circulation (Catlin Arctic Survey).

I say "alarm" because these changes were not predicted by the IPCC and they may presage drastic and rapid climate change. Keep your fingers crossed and carry on! Still, you can now sail from London to Tokyo over the top of the world - take a look at this map:
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Click on the map to see that you really can get the whole way round!

Readers may be interested to see that for all the talk and conferences greenhouse gas emissions are growing at the same steady rate (see THE NOAA ANNUAL GREENHOUSE GAS INDEX (AGGI) ). No one is going to fix this problem in time.

Update: The North West Passage is now open

Update on 16th September: 2011 has either the second smallest extent or an equal extent of sea ice to that in 2007, the previous record year.