The ice sheet covering the North Pole and Arctic Ocean could recede and disappear completely in the summer months by 2040, according to a report in the Geophysical Research Letters magazine. A team of scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Canada s McGill University say their results show that the ice cover will eventually be irreversibly affected by greenhouse gas levels. If emissions continue at the current rate, they report, the ice sheet will go through periods of relative stability, follow by abrupt shrinkage. Only a small portion of the permanent ice pack would cling in the summer season around the northern coastline of Greenland and Canada, the researchers said. We have already witnessed major losses in sea ice, but our research suggests that the decrease over the next few decades could be far more dramatic than anything that has happened so far, said NCAR scientist and lead author of the study Marika Holland. The scientists warned that the melting ice would have a catastrophic effect on global warming. Open water absorbs more sunlight than does ice, meaning that the growing regions of ice-free water will accelerate the warming trend, they said. The melting ice caps would also destroy the habitats of species like the polar bear, and would have dire consequences for the environmental balance of the polar region.
