The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979, at a rate of about 10% per decade. But the 2007 minimum, reached on September 14, is far below the previous record made in 2005 and is about 38% lower than the climatological average. Such a dramatic loss has implications for ecology, climate and industry...Read More at NASA...
*Edit* Here are More Timelapse Images, here is one using NASA images from 1979-2003. Here is another using NSIDC data from 1982 to 2007.
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 3)
31. Thomas J Gasset: "NASA has not found water on MARS!"
You do know that ice is water in its solid phase, right?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars :
Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars with its present low atmospheric pressure, except at the lowest elevations for short periods[11][12] but water ice is in no short supply, with two polar ice caps made largely of ice.[13] In March 2007, NASA announced that the volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 metres.[14] Additionally, an ice permafrost mantle stretches down from the pole to latitudes of about 60°.[13]
Joe Bob at 2:54PM on Oct 26th 2007
32. Thomas J Gasset: "As to exstinction. Most speices that once lived on this Earth are exstinct, and most went exsticnt before man left his first dirty footprint on this Earth."
True, but the point is the RATE at which species extinction is occurring. When a large percentage of the planet's species go extinct in a relatively short time, it's called a MASS EXTINCTION EVENT.
There have been 5 mass extinction events in the last 500 million years. We are in the midst of the the 6th, and perhaps the fastest, mass extinction event, called the Heleocent Extinction Event.
If you care to inform yourself, you could start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction_event
Joe Bob at 3:12PM on Oct 26th 2007
33. Sorry, "Holocene".
Joe Bob at 3:13PM on Oct 26th 2007
34. #26... formally #27
I'm not used to this comment system.
"Are ytou saying that since 1978 records have been kept?
Isn't 29 years a little short time compared to the average lifespan
of a human. As far a geological time is concerned, 29 years does not even have a place within the measurement of a planet.Pray tell, how
is it that the "Northwest Passage" is fully navigable now since and if it was "never" navigable before, how did it came to be called
Northwest Passage."
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It's called the Northwest Passage for historical reasons. It dates back to when explorers and merchants were trying to find a way to Asia without having to go around Cape Horn. But every attempt was thwarted by ice. It may or may not have been fully navigable since then, but we have no record of that. All we can see for certain is this is the first time it's been navigable since we started actually tracking it.
And while we don't have sattellite or direct daily weather data over the past coupel millenia, other evidence in ice cores and speleotherms (cave formations that contain evidence of climate history) suggest that it has been thousands of years since we've seen a climate shift such as the one we are experiencing. While we can't
be certain that it hasn't opened up in the past few millenia, evidence suggests that it hasn't. What we are experiencing is deviant.
Jesse at 3:14PM on Oct 26th 2007
35. Thomas J Gasset "NASA has not found water on MARS!"
Wrong again Tom.
Do some research of your own maybe? Sigh!
ducton at 4:11PM on Oct 26th 2007
36. Hey Al Gore, has Florida sunk underwater yet. After you check that and any other flooding, tell me why the Great Lakes USA water levels have been dropping, and not by a little.Pictures of sites all around the Lakes were shown and Water Level have DROPPED 6 to 9 feet, yes feet, not inches. What use to be boat mariners are now dry dock.
Why is this? Where is the flooding. Great Lakes are huge bodies of water, and now drying up.
robert okane at 4:25PM on Oct 26th 2007
37. robert okrane, what is your point? The Great Lakes are... LAKES! I.e. inland bodies of fresh water. What does lakes dropping have to do with oceans rising because of iceland's and antartica's ice sheets melting?
Joe Bob at 4:50PM on Oct 26th 2007
38. Robert Okane:
The Great Lakes are not fed from polar icecap meltwater. Icecap meltwater causes ocean levels to rise.
ducton at 5:05PM on Oct 26th 2007
39. Oh my gosh, so THAT's why the ocean was so much fuller when I went to Pismo Beach! Tree hugging alarmists without investigating the facts are running rampant with half-assed theories. Check the grammar school kids...they all think we need to "save" the environment. Egads
OhMe in CA at 5:12PM on Oct 26th 2007
40. Errrr, so where do YOU think all the meltwater goes? Sloshing around in some of the empty heads on this board is a reasonable suggestion.
ducton at 5:19PM on Oct 26th 2007
41. One does not need to "hate" liberals or Gore for that matter. Some people believe that Global Warming ( excuse me, i meant to use the correct term GW) is occuring . However, they have not attempted to piggy-back a whole bunch of common, off the shelf, "green" dogma with it.
M2D5 at 1:58PM on Oct 26th 2007
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Yes, indeed no one does need to "hate". and it does make people wonder why??
unfortunately, that's what is happening in todays envirnment (pardon the pun)> It is precisely because people like Gore are bringing Global Warming to the fore front (and after all Al is from the other team. That's how we messure things these days, it's so sad and so pathetic), We have those like the Rush's and O'Reilly's of the world spreading their word to those who listen to them. Politicians, I'm sure especially those politicians who get lot's of contributions from oil companies and other offenders.
Heck haven't you heard even Georgw W. Bush is come out and admitted that we are facing Global Warming. I'm almost certain he washed his mouth as soon as he said it, but how much longer are people going to not face the facts??
Why is it that this is so difficult to belive?? Or even better, why not try to create an environment that is cleaner, greener and with less polution for all of us. How many of you have ever gone to the beach only to find out that you can't go swiming because the water is contaminated? Or the kids in school can't go out for recess because the day is just too smoggy? Streams with nothing but dead fish in them. Gas, Polution, noise polution... is it so hard to belive that these things are not just harming our bodies but they are also harming our planet.
I had asked earlier why some people do not belive in global warming. Has anyone ever wonder why the oil companies pay millions of dolars to "EXPERTS" to despute that global warming exsist?? Does that not raise a red flag for anyone??? Hmmm... what do oil companies have to loose if the scientific community got together and not only confirmed that global warming is happening right now and if we don't act soon our grandchildren or great grandchildren will be paying for it. But, they would also despute the arguments that the oil companies so call "EXPERTS" have claimed.
I don't have answers, but I have a million questions and I for one will continue to try an educate myself with this as much as possible. And will continue to recycle, clean up after myself, drive less. LOVE JUST LOVE the money we are saving since we got solar panels!
Patty at 6:34PM on Oct 26th 2007
42. Here's a little info for the global warming "truthers"--- the libbie ASStronomer wannabes.
Gee, does this site say that the Mars ice caps wane and wax seasonally, just like here on earth?
Say it ain't so!! Bush must be taking over NASA too. The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!
http://science.nasa.gov/heading/y2003/07Aug_southpole.htm
Enjoy
Lizard at 9:04PM on Oct 26th 2007
43. #41. Oops, screwed up link. Try this:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/07aug_southpole.htm
Lizard at 9:21PM on Oct 26th 2007
44. Lizard,
If you are going to comment, at least read the posts first. Another big sigh.....The Mars caps that wax and wane seasonally are 'dry ice' CO2 caps, not frozen water ice caps. The frozen water ice caps (discovered March this year) are under the dry ice........blah blah. How about you just read up on it yourself eh?
ducton at 12:52AM on Oct 27th 2007
45. #43 Ducton. The differences in ice composition were duly noted. Both H2O and CO2 respond similarly to heat sources, i.e., sun, in which Mars has no atmospheric or man made influence.
Here is a simpleton experiment which may be at the envelope of your comprehension level. Get two equal-sized pieces of dry ice. Leave one on a counter top, place the other next to a heat source;
heat-lamp, hair dryer, warm water, whatever. The heated CO2 will "melt" (evaporate) much quicker than the unheated one. The sun is responsible for climatic changes, not atmospheric pollution.
Take Hoard's scary movie on summer melt-off, and run it in reverse this winter. Just like magic, the ice will reappear, and all the libbies will be happy once again.
Lizard at 8:57AM on Oct 27th 2007