Arctic ice may vanish by 2040

Arctic ice may vanish by 2040
11.55, Tue Dec 12 2006

Experts have predicted that global warming could melt the Arctic's ice
during the summer as early as 2040.

A slow, steady decline of Arctic ice is predicted with a dramatic "tipping
point" in about two decades.

And the famous white spot at the top of the globe could be ice-free in
summer within three-and-a-half decades according to modeling done on
super-computers.

The repercussions could be far reaching - raising serious environmental as
well as commercial and strategic questions, it has been warned.

Scientist Mark Serreze of America's National Snow and Ice Data Centre at the
University of Colorado said: "The effects of greenhouse warming are starting
to rear their ugly head."

In one simulation, the September ice shrinks from about 2.3 million square
miles to 770,000 square miles in a ten-year period. By 2040, only a small
amount of perennial sea ice would remain along the north coasts of Greenland
and Canada, while most of the Arctic basin would be ice-free in September.
"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our
Children" ~Native American Proverb

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