Arctic Ice Melt-Out?
Anchorage Daily News
Published: May 9th, 2008 10:33 AM
By Kathleen McCoy

Will the North Pole melt this summer? Andrew Revkin on DOT Earth, a blog at The New York Times, says more and more scientists are expecting a melting of arctic ice this summer.

"Mark Serreze at the National Snow and Ice Data Center told me he sees ‘a decent chance that the North Pole melts out' this year," Revkin writes. Ignatius G. Rigor from the University of Washington, working with North Pole Environmental Observatory, told Revkin that he's putting his (research) money where his mouth is "by buying a few dozen buoys that are meant to be deployed in open ocean."

You can check the ice for yourself by watching web cams left behind by polar researchers in April. The photos at left of scientists measuring ice depth at the North Pole were taken by Andrew Revkin for The New York Times."

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Finally, a "global warming" predicton that we'll actually live to see!  This is not something that is supposed to happen in a hundred years (like most global warming predictions), this is supposed to happen this summer!  So we'll be able to see if it comes true.

However, like most global warming predictions they left it just vague enough so they can always claim it came true.  I don't know what "melt-out" means exactly.  But they seem to be indicating that the entire Arctic ice cap is going to melt away this summer.  So we'll see if that happens.  I am "predicting" now though, that it will not happen. 

They also say vaguely that "more and more scientists are expecting a melting of arctic ice this summer."  They don't mention here that there is a melting of arctic ice every summer. 

But, the clear implication is that they believe there will be a complete melting of Arctic ice this summer.  I believe this is just another hysterical global warming claim that will prove to be unfounded by summer's end. 

Update:  I just found this quote over at ABC News by Mark Serreze:

"There is this thin first-year ice even at the North Pole at the moment," says Serreze. "This raises the spectre – the possibility that you could become ice free at the North Pole this year."

So, apparently they are saying the North Pole could become ice-free this summer.  Well... let's watch and see! 

6-30-08 UPDATE:  Here is the latest live web cam photo from the NOAA weather reporting station at the North Pole - showing plenty of ice still remains as we've just past the height of summer.  

7-27-08 UPDATE:   Ditto the 6/30/08 update.  Here's the latest photo:

See an August 19th, 2008 follow-up story here.

FINAL UPDATE:  Sept 27, 2008 - The summer season is now over at the North Pole and we got it right.  The Arctic ice cap did not completely melt as was alarmingly predicted at the beginning of the season.  Haven't seen any articles heralding the good news!