Arctic Temperatures At Record High

Warm weather will mean the ice will not get as thick and it will melt at a faster pace.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Autumn temperatures in the Arctic region are a record 5.0 degree Celsius (9.0 Fahrenheit) higher than normal due the melting of the ice cap, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report said Friday.

"Changes in the Arctic show a domino effect from multiple causes more clearly than in other regions," said NOAA oceanographer James Overland, lead author of the report titled 'The Arctic Report Card 2008' published on NOAA's website.

"It's a sensitive system and often reflects changes in relatively fast and dramatic ways," the scientist said.

As the ice cap over the Arctic melts due to global warming, more ocean water is exposed and heated by the sun's rays, the report said.

The warmer air and ocean water affect animal and plant life in the region and melt the permanent ice shelf, which in recent years has shrunk by some 38 cubic kilometers (9.1 cubic miles) and is the leading cause of the global rise of sea levels.

2007 was the warmest year on record in the Arctic region, followed closely by 2008. This continues a general Arctic-wide warming trend that began in the mid-1960s.

The ice seems to be melting faster and lasting longer on both the polar ice and on Greenland's ice cap. In spots of Greenland's ice cap the average days of melting has increased by as much as 53 days. Almost two months more of melting. If you look at the charts in the NOAA reports linked above, you will notice that the increases warming on Greenland happens at the same spots where the ice has receded. When the ice sheets no longer protect northern Greenland, its ice sheet will melt fast.

This year, for the first time a scientific expedition was able to navigate the fabled Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans along Arctic waters bordering Russia and North America because they were free of ice, the German institute Alfred Wegener announced Friday.

"The scientific research vessel Polarstern returned this morning from the Arctic to Bremerhaven (northern Germany). It was the first ship to have crossed the Northwest and Northeast passages" without having to break any ice, an institute spokesman told AFP.

The Arctic ice cap, which in August saw its largest seasonal melting since satellite observations began 30 years ago, completely disappeared in the Northwest and Northeast passages in September, the European Space Agency confirmed on October 7.

NOAA's report card for the Arctic is here.