This is what a few Arctic ice experts were saying in 2008 when I covered a special meeting in Quebec City. The ice had reached shocking record lows in September of 2007 + 2008. Turns out the Arctic ice is more resilient and will still be there in September of this year. However it will likely be the lowest amount of ice in the past million years. – SL]
By Stephen Leahy
“We’re going to see huge changes in the Arctic ecosystem“
QUEBEC CITY, Canada, Dec 13 2008 (IPS)
In just a few summers from now, the Arctic Ocean will lose its protective cover of ice for the first time in a million years, according to some experts attending the International Arctic Change conference here.
A summer ice-free Arctic wasn’t due for another 50 to 70 years under the worst-case climate change scenarios examined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“Things are happening much faster in the Arctic. I think it will be summer ice-free by 2015,” said David Barber, an Arctic climatologist at the University of Manitoba.
Such a “dramatic and serious loss of sea ice will affect everyone on the planet,” Barber told IPS.
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Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist 