Arctic of old is gone, experts warn

[IDemo]

Warmer Greenland, low sea ice and huge glacier breakup cited in 2010 report card

msnbc.com
updated 10/21/2010 2:38:03 PM ET

The Arctic — an area described as Earth's refrigerator because its ice helps keep temperatures cool — continues to warm up and is unlikely to return to earlier conditions, according to an annual report card issued Thursday by top scientists.

"Record temperatures across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a reduced summer sea ice cover, (and) record snow cover decreases" were cited as factors supporting the conclusion in the 2010 Arctic Report Card issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report card "tells a story of widespread, continued and even dramatic effects of a warming Arctic," lead researcher Jackie Richter-Menge, an expert at the federal Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, N.H., told reporters.

"It is increasingly unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, that we will return to previous Arctic conditions," she said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39779522/ns/us_news-environment/

[Gman]

1. We're past the tipping point

and it's probably too late now.

[elocs]

2. Not only have we been feckless in fighting climate change, nothing has been done to prepare

for its consequences.