Save the Poles Expedition as Arctic Ice Disappears Faster

Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, according to the latest findings from a research project involving more than 370 scientists from 27 countries. Intrepid explorer Eric Larsen has completed his South Pole journey over the southern summer, is getting ready to tackle the North Pole and then will climb Mount Everest -  all this within one year to promote clean energy and to “save the poles”.

Rod Nickel for  Reuters (6 February 2010):

WINNIPEG, Manitoba  - Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, scientists said on Friday in giving their early findings from the biggest-ever study of Canada’s changing north.

The research project involved more than 370 scientists from 27 countries who collectively spent 15 months, starting in June 2007, aboard a research vessel above the Arctic Circle. It marked the first time a ship has stayed mobile in Canada’s high Arctic for an entire winter.

“(Climate change) is happening much faster than our most pessimistic models expected,” said David Barber, a professor at the University of Manitoba and the study’s lead investigator, at a news conference in Winnipeg.

Models predicted only a few years ago that the Arctic would be ice-free in summer by the year 2100, but the increasing pace of climate change now suggests it could happen between 2013 and 2030, Barber said.

Scientists link higher Arctic temperatures and melting sea ice to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

The Arctic is considered a type of early-warning system of climate change for the rest of the world.

“We know we’re losing sea ice — the world is all aware of that,” Barber said. “What you’re not aware of is that it has impacts on everything else that goes on in this system.”

The loss of the sea ice is taking away areas for the region’s mammals to reproduce, find food and elude predators, said Steve Ferguson, a scientist with the Canadian government who took part in the study.

Whale species previously not found in the Arctic are moving into the region because there is less sea ice to restrict their movements.

Climate change is also bringing more cyclones into the Arctic, dumping snow on the sea ice, which limits how thick it can get, and bringing winds that break up the ice, Barber said.

The study is part of the International Polar Year, a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. The scientists have not yet produced conclusions, but they expect to publish dozens of academic papers.

The cost of the Arctic’s rapid melt will be $2.4 trillion by 2050 as the region loses its ability to cool the global climate, the U.S.-based Pew Environment Group said on Friday. The group released a report showing the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet.

Both the Canadian government and the oil and gas industry are keenly interested in the possible environmental impact of development further north in the Arctic, said professor Louis Fortier of Laval University.

Currently, development is focused on mainland regions such as the massive gas fields in the Mackenzie River Delta on the Beaufort Sea. But receding ice levels may make the wider Arctic more accessible to ships and make drilling in more areas possible.

“Conclusions will come later, but … up to now there’s no indication that the impacts would be larger (further north) than elsewhere in the Arctic,” Fortier said.

Source: www.au.news.yahoo.com

From Save the Poles (1 February 2010):

Eric Larsen is making it happen. He completed his South Pole journey over the southern summer and is getting ready to tackle the North Pole. Then he will climb Mount Everest. All this within one year to promote clean energy and “save the poles”.

Here’s Eric Larsen’s latest update as he prepares for his Arctic mission:

“I spent a few hours yesterday with Richard Ortner, a meteorologist from Denver’s KMGH channel 7. We talked about our changing climate, life on the trail, polar gear and training.

“With only a few weeks before my North Pole departure, I am trying to reign in chaos. Not that easy. I wish I could report that everything is great and it’s been smooth sailing but the opposite is true. Our military flights to northern Ellesemere Island did not get final approval and Ryan Waters a stalwart mountaineer and polar traveler backed out of the North Pole team for personal reasons.

“I am trying to prioritize in these final weeks, but it only makes me realize what I already know. Everything is important! In a polar expedition each piece is a critical component of the whole. Training, gear, proper diet (ie clif bars), logistics, safety net, team, clothing, travel systems… I’ll stop there.

“I have had some amazing conversations with all sorts of folks lately about polar travel, solar power, mapping and much more.”

In 2009, renowned Polar Explorer Eric Larsen began an unprecedented journey to the top, bottom and roof of the world. During a continuous 365-day period, Larsen will mount major unsupported expeditions to the North and South Poles and an expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest. This feat has never been completed in one year. To date, only 15 people (no Americans) in history have been to all three ‘poles’.

The expedition’s objectives are:

• Complete the first-ever expedition to Mt. Everest, the North Pole and South Pole in a continuous 365-day period
• Promote clean energy solutions, advocate strategies for reducing carbon emissions post Kyoto 2012 and collect relevant scientific data
• Produce a documentary film, book and educational CD-ROM that focuses on global warming, teamwork and the spirit of adventure
• Develop a post expedition multi-media lecture series

Mount Everest and the North and South Poles represent the harshest and most extreme environments on the planet. Yet as inhospitable as these places are to humans, they are also the areas most affected by people. By summer 2040, the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free. Recently, the 1,250 square mile Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed off of Antarctica and disintegrated into the Southern Ocean. Snow and ice once stretched to Edmund Hillary’s Everest base camp but now ends five miles above.

While we are seeing the most dramatic changes in the Polar and higher altitude regions, Global Warming is an issue that affects us all.

Source: www.savethepoles.com