Arctic ice field to melt away well before 2080: European research
Pastor Dale Morgan
Arctic ice field to melt away well before 2080: European research*
BERLIN, Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2006
The Arctic Ocean's ice field could melt entirely well before 2080 due to
global warming, a group of European scientists meeting in the northern
Germany city of Bremen announced on Tuesday.
"If the situation evolves as physics predicts, the Arctic Ocean's
summertime ice fields will completely disappear by 2080," said Eberhard
Fahrbach of the Alfred Wegner Institute (AWI), a member of the European
Arctic research body DAMOCLES.
At present, the polar ice cap's size varies according to the season,
with parts melting and refreezing throughout the year. According to
Fahrbach's prediction, there would be no permanently frozen areas in a
matter of decades.
"That has consequences going much further than the Arctic," he added.
Climatic change threatens the polar bears of the region, for example,
but also the entire food chain. "It also has an effect on the fish which
ultimately end up on our tables," the scientist added.
The DAMOCLES programme (Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing
Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) is a European project
aimed at monitoring and forecasting climate changes in the Arctic.