State of the Arctic -- warming, melting (AP)

[Eugene]

State of the Arctic -- warming, melting

By Randolph E. Schmid, AP Science Writer | November 16, 2006

WASHINGTON --Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline
in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising
concerns about the Greenland ice sheet.

"There have been regional warming periods before. Now we're seeing
Arctic-wide changes," James Overland, an oceanographer at the Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said Thursday.

-snip-

The new "State of the Arctic" analysis, released by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also reports an increase in
northward movement of warmer water through the Bering Strait in
2001-2004. This may have contributed to a continuing reduction of sea
ice.

During that time, there were record lows in sea ice coverage in the
region, Overland said. This year there was more normal coverage in the
Bering area but a record low on the Atlantic side of the Arctic.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/11/16/state_of_the_arctic____warming_melting

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1. Arctic 'warmer, greener'

THE Arctic has been warmer in the past six years than at any time on record, with more green shrubs, less sea ice and rising temperatures in the permafrost, scientists said today.

However, there were signs that some parts of the Arctic environment were returning to the lower temperatures seen in the mid-20th century, the researchers said.

Moving away from anecdotal accounts of starving polar bears and increasing numbers of forest fires, an international team of researchers found that conditions in the Arctic varied regionally, but generally showed an unprecedented warming.

"This is a region that is fighting back ... and consequently there are some things that show signs of going back to earlier climatological norms, what we saw from 1950 through 1980," said Jacqueline Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20773310-1702,00.html

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2. There are reports from New Zealand of Icebergs

But this is a sign of warming because they are the remains of a break-up from the Ronne Iceshelf sheet.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ice-but-no-drink-as-bergs-pass-nz/2006/11/16/1163266712914.html